(RECAP: HUD’s recently released monthly Housing Scorecard points to new home sales, homeowner participation in loss mitigation programs, and declining foreclosure starts and completions as evidence that the housing market is steadily continuing to recover from the housing crisis. The report states new single-family home sales rose by 12.4 percent in July to 654,000, reaching the fastest pace since October 2007 and up over 31 percent from this point last year. According to the report, previously owned (existing) homes sales fell 3.2 percent in July to 5.39 million, down from 5.57 million in June and 1.6 percent lower than at this point last year. Despite the loss in momentum, existing home sales remained above 5.0 million for 16 of the past 17 months.)