Coldwell Banker reported findings from a new survey that looked at how the recently expanded federal homebuyer tax credut might impact the economy. 83% of 1000 homebuyers surveyed responded that if they were to purchase a home and qualify for the tax credit, they would engage in “smart spending” of the money. This means they would put the money toward paying off existing debts, home improvements, savings/investments, or everydayhousehold expenses.

According to the survey, 34% of homeowners said they would use the tax credit to pay off debts, followed closely by home improvements (29%) and making investments (28%).

In addition, Coldwell Banker found that 20% of homeowners indicated they were more likelyto consider purchasing a home than they were six months ago, after learning about the federal tax credit.

The National Association of Realtors recently reported that 47% of 2009 home sales were to first-time buyers, so clearly the initial tax credit worked. This survey offers positive indicators that there are more existing homeowners considering a home purchase today  than there were six months ago.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 28th, 2009 at 8:04 pm and is filed under Buyers, First-Time Buyers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.