Dive summary:

• Information compiled by the U.S. Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development shows homeowners had more equity in their homes and August sales of both existing and new homes were up from the same month in 2011.
• The scorecard combines various data, and equity measures were for the second quarter of 2012. They showed homeowners' equity in their properties was $7.28 trillion, the largest number since 2008's third quarter.
• In measuring sales, the scorecard said that sales of new home rose from 24,300 in August to 31,100 in August of this year. Buyers purchased 401,700 existing homes in August compared with 367,500 in the same month of 2011. The number of first-time homebuyers was up to 160,100, 15,000 above August 2011.

From the article:

The Obama administration’s latest housing scorecard reflects an improving market, with rising home values taking homeowner equity to its highest level since the third quarter of 2008. ...