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The spike in home sales is giving hope to unemployed construction workers who have taken the biggest blow from the economic downturn. There are an estimated 300-thousand empty houses in Florida all but eliminating the need for new construction. The Florida Home Builders Association hopes home sales will continue to climb. Spokeswoman Edie Ousley said the advance on the first time home buyer tax credit will help put construction workers back to work.

“In Florida construction is the state’s second largest economic engine. This is going to put people back to work. Concurrently we’ve got more than 150,000 construction workers out of a job. It puts them back to work it puts essential dollars back in the state’s coffers and our economy will rebound,” said Ousley.

The Florida Home Builders Association is also supporting a proposed constitutional amendment to cut property taxes for first time buyers. The amendment will appear on the 2010 ballot.