By Matthew Vann

Housing indicators showed sustained growth in home prices according to a December report released last week by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“As the December housing scorecard indicates, our housing market is continuing to show important signs of recovery – with the FHFA and Case-Shiller housing price indices up 5.6 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, from one year ago,” said HUD Senior Advisor on Housing Finance Michael Berman.

The report singles out several positive growth factors in the housing market including housing prices, which showed large annual gains for the 12 months ending October 2012.  6 million homeowners received mortgage aid, including loan modification, through the Making Home Affordable Program.

More than 81,000 mortgages were refinanced under the Home Affordable Refinance Program in October.  That brings the total number of refinanced home loans to 790, 600 since the start of 2012.

The report also pointed to the rising equity for homeowners, which is now nearing $8 trillion, as a strong indicator of a turn around in the housing market.

“The Administration’s programs to prevent foreclosure have helped millions of families stay in their homes and prompted critical changes in the way the mortgage industry assists struggling homeowners, which have helped our country recover faster from an unprecedented housing crisis,” said Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability Tim Massad.