The unemployment extension as part of the 2.4 billion dollar economic stimulus bill also includes help for home buyers.

The housing tax credit portion of the bill extends the 8-thousand dollar tax credit for home buyers who are getting their first home and it expands the program to offer a credit of 65-hundred dollars to other homeowners.

"It gets that move up buyer going, which we haven't seen in the market place, and that's really the purpose of this bill to stimulate that move up buyer," manager at Coldwell Banker Paul Roy said.

Senator Murray is a co-signer on the bill and told realtors yesterday the senate has taken another critical step to strengthen our housing market, which could help speed up the overall economic recovery.