Update1: As we wrote yesterday, “This week could really give us a sense of homebuyer demand: both existing and new home sales reports are due to be released by week’s end.”

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), existing homes sales rose 6.8% last month, a direct result of the homebuyer tax credit’s pending expiration (emphasis added):

Buyers responding to the homebuyer tax credit and favorable affordability conditions boosted existing-home sales in March, marking the beginning of an expected spring surge, according to the National Association of Realtors®.

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We received a comment yesterday — on a post from a few weeks back — from a reader who was checking in on the homebuyer tax credit, asking if I heard anything new regarding another possible extension.

The comment detailed how our reader and her husband were actively looking for a home and were concerned that they weren’t going to find the right one before the homebuyer tax credit’s expiration date (contracts must be signed by April 30): Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the latest on the homebuyer tax credit? According to a recent Bloomberg article, certain lawmakers are saying that a second extension of the homebuyer tax credit is not on the table:

“That’s not on the table,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, the chamber’s top tax-writer, said today in Washington.

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The hot topic around the web yesterday was that February’s increase in homebuyer activity was the result of the pending expiration of the homebuyer tax credit.

According to the National Association of Realtors, “The Pending Home Sales Index, a forward-looking indicator based on contracts signed in February, rose 8.2 percent to 97.6 from a downwardly revised 90.2 in January, and remains 17.3 percent above February 2009 when it was 83.2. The data reflects contracts and not closings, which usually occur with a lag time of one or two months.”

The big question: Is February’s boost in homebuyer activity enough to spur lawmakers to extend the homebuyer tax credit again? The numbers for February’s pending home sales were only first available yesterday, April 5. That means March’s (pending home sale) numbers won’t be available until the beginning of May. By that time, all who wanted to take advantage of the homebuyer tax credit would have had to have their contracts signed — all contracts must be signed by April 30 (24 days away). We will, however, see some of February’s numbers expressed in March’s existing-home sales report due out on April 22.

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We’ve been stirring the pot about another possible extension to the homebuyer tax credit (HBTC) for over a month now. With just 30 days left for homebuyers to shop, lock (in a rate) and sign a contract, it’s beyond crunch time.

While earlier today I was thinking that the chatter surrounding another possible extension of the HBTC was rather muted, the numerous articles I read on the subject shortly thereafter made it appear that I wasn’t entirely correct.

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