Congress has approved a three-month extension in the closing date for the homebuyer tax credit, giving qualified buyers until Sept. 30 to close their deals as long as they signed contracts by April 30.

The legislation, passed by the House on Tuesday and the Senate late Wednesday, gives first-time homebuyers and "move-up" buyers more time to qualify for tax credits of up to $8,000 and $6,500, respectively.

The buyers must still have met the April 30 contract date, so no new contracts can be signed to take advantage of the credit.

But the extension addresses the concerns of consumer and homebuyer advocates and the housing industry that thousands of consumers were unable to close through no fault of their own. Rather, these advocates say, lenders and other professionals at various stages of the closing process were so overwhelmed by the flood of business that they couldn't keep up.

In particular, those involved in "short sales" - in which a bank agrees to allow a delinquent borrower to sell a home for less than the loan amount - have struggled because such transactions are more complicated and can take as much as 120 days to complete.

The bill, which will be retroactive to June 30, is expected to be signed by President Obama.

Lawmakers had been working for over a month to pass the popular extension, but it was held up by other legislation. Had it been passed sooner, the Erie County Clerk's Office might not have seen "record crowds" in its closing room over the past week, County Clerk Kathleen C. Hochul said Thursday.

On June 30 alone - the date the credit originally expired prior to the extension - Hochul's office handled 220 closings, mostly for first-time homebuyers. That's three to four times higher than the usual daily average of 60 to 80 deals, and is the most on one day in at least five years.

"The extension of the tax credit is great news for our customers who played by the rules, but were shut out at the last minute due to lender delays," said Hochul.