After a harsh winter slowed growth, the housing market has begun to pick up, according to a new report issued by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The administration’s Housing Scorecard – a comprehensive report that collects the latest data on residential real estate and the government’s foreclosure prevention efforts – found progress across a number of key indicators in May. Katherine O’Regan, HUD’s assistant secretary for policy development and research, said May’s Housing Scorecard shows that more homeowners have positive equity, foreclosures continue their downward trend, and sales of new and existing homes are rebounding. According to the report, homeowners’ equity in the first quarter of the year reached its highest level since the second quarter of 2007. The improvement returned more than 300,000 borrowers to a position of positive equity in their homes. Also, sales of existing homes rose for the first time all year in April and new home sales rebounded after declining four out of the previous five months. But, though the overall trend is positive, officials caution that there is still work to be done to help housing continue to recover from the recent recession and financial crisis. More here.