House and Senate may meet in the middle. The House is proposing a $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers under a certain income threshold. The Senate upped the ante last week, opting for a $15,000 tax credit available to all house hunters.

Home buyers looking for lower mortgage rates and borrowers struggling to keep their homes may soon receive help as Congress and the Obama administration yesterday moved closer to delivering a boost to the troubled real estate sector.

In separate actions yesterday, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner disclosed a new financial industry bailout package that includes $50 billion to help refinance mortgages of homeowners at risk of foreclosure, and the US Senate passed an $838 billion economic stimulus bill that includes a $15,000 tax credit for home buyers.
Both measures drew praise from the real estate industry as necessary to stimulate home buying, mitigate foreclosures, and create jobs.