Currently the tax credit does not apply to singles who earn more than $95,000 per year or couples who earn more than $170,000 per year.  Buyers do not have to repay the tax credit as long as they occupy the home for at least three years.

"I'm fairly confident that (Congress) will extend the tax credit, because it is so important that housing come back," says Bernard Baumohl, an economist at the Economic Outlook Group. "But raising the tax credit will be difficult because it reduces taxes even more."

What is Currently Proposed?

• A Senate bill to expand the tax credit to $15,000 for any home buyer regardless of income was introduced this month by Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga. It is co-sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn.  "It would go a long way toward inducing trade-up buyers into the market," says Lawrence Yun, chief economist at the NAR.
• A House bill to keep the $8,000 credit in place until June 2010 and expand it to all home buyers was introduced last month by Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas. It also would provide a $3,000 credit to homeowners who refinance.
• Another bill in the House, introduced by Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, would extend the credit to all home buyers through 2010.

"A lot of people are taking advantage of it," says David Thomas, a Realtor in Washington, D.C., who adds that expanding the credit would boost the market. "That would be a fantastic idea, to enhance and expand the incentives."