Groups urge U.S. to extend home purchase tax credit

Posted by: Andrew Pia

Written by: Al Yoon

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Real estate and banking industry trade groups urged the Obama administration on Monday to press to extend and expand a tax credit for first-time home buyers that they said is instrumental to stabilizing the fragile housing market.

A government program that offers an $8,000 tax credit to first-time home buyers, which is due to expire on November 30, should be extended for another year and expanded to include all buyers of homes that would be primary residences, the trade groups said in a letter.

The letter from the Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Home Builders, and the National Association of Realtors was addressed to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, and Lawrence Summers, chair of the National Economic Council.

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