On Saturday, June 30, President Obama signed a one-week extension of a transportation bill that includes a provision to extend the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) for five years, ending four years of short-term extensions that fueled uncertainty and several lapses in coverage. Without the five-year extension, the program would have expired July 31.
Flood insurance is required by law to obtain a mortgage in more than 21,000 communities nationwide. NAR estimates that a lapse in the program would have affected 1,300 transactions a day or nearly 40,000 a month.
The extension of the measure will allow time for the full legislation, approved last Friday by Congress, to reach the president’s desk. He is expected to sign the full law in the coming days.
C.A.R. and NAR have been working over the past several years to ensure lawmakers understand the importance of extending the NFIP and will continue to monitor the issue.