To qualify for the credit, buyers had to sign purchase contracts by April 30 and must close on the transaction by June 30.

The National Association of Realtors estimates that from 55,000 to 75,000 homebuyers who are under contract won't be able to close in time to claim the tax credit. There were so many contracts signed before the deadline of April 30 that they are now causing a bottleneck and are being delayed because lenders are being overwhelmed. So NAR decided to lobby Congress to extend the June 30 deadline for those buyers who have met the April 30 contract deadline.

Today the Senate approved an extension of the tax credit closing deadline by 3 months till September 30. The extension is part of a larger jobs and tax bill currently being considered by the Senate. They plan on voting on the full legislative package by the end of next week.