Much of today's market is being driven by first time buyers. They are being lured into the market by the low FHA down payments and the $8000 first time buyers credit. The current credit however is due to expire at the end of November. The way the credit works you have to close by Nov 30th to get the money. With many closings taking up to 90 days, if you are hoping to buy using this credit you will need to get moving.
Will the government extend the credit? The NAR is pushing hard to get the credit extended. There's even been talk of upping the credit to $15k and offering it to move up buyers. They tried that last year and it failed so I'm not optimistic of that happening. But I do feel that they will extend the current credit. It's only another few billion dollars.......