WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Congress has voted to extend a popular program providing tax credits of up to 8,000 dollars to first time home buyers, as the federal government tries to prop up a flagging US real estate market seen as key to the economic recovery.

The vote on the measure, which now goes to President Barack Obama to be signed into law, was made in the US Senate by unanimous consent late Wednesday, after the House approved the measure earlier in the week.

Shoring up the embattled housing market is seen by economists as the linchpin in helping the struggling US economy recover from the worst recession in decades.

The current tax credit program, which expired on April 30, allowed home buyers until June 30 to close their home purchase.

The extension, which will permit the tax credit to be taken through the end of September, comes after last week's dismal report that sales of new one-family homes in the United States plunged to a record low in May, after the expiration of the program.

The Commerce Department last week said home sales dropped 32.7 percent from April to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 300,000.

The pace was the slowest since the creation of the data series in January 1963, and was well below the 430,000 expected by most analysts.