Housing Market Stimulus Bill Introduced by Isakson

Endorsements from Business Roundtable, U.S. Chamber, National Association of Realtors

Jun 11, 2009

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator and Senate candidate Johnny Isakson introduced legislation on Wednesday to boost housing demand and the economy with a bill to expand the current first-time homebuyer tax credit from $8,000 to $15,000 and to include any homebuyer.

The current $8,000 tax credit is only for first-time homebuyers and includes income caps of $75,000 for an individual and $150,000 for a couple. Isakson’s legislation would increase the amount to $15,000, would remove the income caps and would make the tax credit available to all homebuyers. The legislation would extend the tax credit for one year from date of enactment and would allow homebuyers to claim the credit on their 2009 tax return for purchases made in 2010.

“The first-time homebuyer tax credit has made a difference. First-time home buyers used it and the market stabilized, but we don’t have a recession in first-time home buyers. We have a recession in the move-up market,” Isakson said. “One of the biggest problems facing the American people today is an illiquid housing market, a decline in their equity, a decline in their net worth and a depression in the housing market that we are obligated to correct if we possibly can.”

Isakson has more than three decades of experience in the real estate business and he has pushed a similar homebuyer tax credit for more than a year because he knows it will work. During the 1970’s, America faced a similar housing crisis, leaving a three-year supply of vacant homes. Congress at that time passed a $2,000 tax credit for anyone purchasing a new home for their principle residence. The results were clear and swift as home values stabilized, housing inventory dropped and the market recovered.

“Today, in the United States, one in two sales made every day is a short sale or a foreclosure. That is an unhealthy market, and it is continuing to precipitate a downward spiral in values, loss of equity by the American people and a protracted, difficult economic time for our country.”

Isakson’s legislation has been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Realtors and the Housing Working Group of Business Roundtable. In addition, it has gained bipartisan support in the Senate from Senators Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Jim Bunning, R-Ky., Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., Chris Dodd, D-Conn., John Ensign, R-Nev., Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, James Risch, R-Idaho, and David Vitter, R-La.