This would give more time to all of the buyers in contract to by short sales.

Reuters reports House backs homebuyer tax credit extension

The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday approved giving extra time to thousands of homebuyers trying to get a popular federal tax credit by the end of the month.

The House backed by a vote of 409-5 a measure to extend the closing deadline to Sept. 30 for buyers who already met the April 30 deadline to have a signed contract. The current deadline requires those buyers to close the transaction by June 30 to receive the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers.

The Senate must still approve the measure before President Barack Obama can sign it into law.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid sought earlier this month to attach a companion proposal to a separate effort to extend insurance benefits to unemployed workers but the overall measure was rejected by the Senate.

Reid is expected to find another way for the Senate to consider the popular measure, though it remains unclear precisely how he would do that.