The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported in June that only about 27 percent of homebuyers in 2009 who were eligible for the $8,000 federal tax credit had filed claims by late February (the most recent data available). At 25.9 percent, the Midwest was slightly below the national average, but Danielle Hale, an NAR research economist, says that the program was likely more successful than those figures suggest. “The data has a lag,” she says. “It doesn’t mean the [remaining] eligible buyers won’t file claims. We expect the final total to be [close] to 100 percent.” Data on eligible 2010 buyers is still pending.
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