According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s July Housing Scorecard, the housing market remains on the path to recovery, though some unexpected weakness remains. The Scorecard – which collects key housing market data and tracks the impact of the government’s foreclosure prevention programs – details many signs of positive progress. Among them, rebounding sales of previously owned homes, the continued downward trend in foreclosure starts, and the stabilization of home prices are all signs of an increasingly healthy residential real-estate market. Still, new home sales remain weaker than expected. Katherine O’Regan, HUD’s assistant secretary for policy development and research, said indications are that continued improvements in the economy, such as the July employment report which marked the sixth straight month of more than 200,000 jobs having been added, along with slowly easing mortgage credit, will keep the housing market on the path to recovery. Despite the largely optimistic tone of the most recent report, however, officials caution there is still work to be done as the economy recovers from the most recent recession. More here.