NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Sales of existing homes rose more than expected in July, but prices continued to fall and inventory increased. That's according to the latest reading on the battered housing market by an industry trade group released Monday.

The National Association of Realtors reported that sales by homeowners in July increased to an annual pace of 5 million, up from the revised June reading of 4.85 million.

That's better than the annual pace of 4.9 million that economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected, and it's the highest pace since February. Still, July sales were down 13.2% from a year earlier.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- On Capitol Hill this week, lawmakers are set to continue to grapple with the best response to the rising tide of home foreclosures. But the Bush administration says it has a solution in place: A nine-month old mortgage refinancing program run by the Federal Housing Administration.

The program, called FHASecure, was launched in August. It hasenabled subprime borrowers to switch to low, fixed-rate mortgages after they fell behind on payments because their adjustable rate mortgages reset to higher, unaffordable levels.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Homebuilders' confidence fell once again in May and their view of the state of the battered market hit a record low.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo monthly index fell to its second lowest reading on record, ahead of only last December's reading.

Builders were asked for their view of the current market, the amount of the buyers looking at homes and expectations for six months from now.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Rates on 30-year mortgages eased this week, but remained above 6%, as signs that the overall economy is recovering helped offset ongoing weakness in the housing market, mortgage backer Freddie Mac said Thursday.

Freddie Mac said 30-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 6.01% this week with an average of 0.6 point, down from 6.05% last week. Last year at this time, the 30-year loan averaged 6.15%.

"Despite the bleak housing market, there was positive news on the overall state of the economy," said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, in a statement.

Nothaft said comments made Tuesday by Federal Reserve officials, including Chairman Ben Bernanke, bolstered optimism that financial markets will recover later this year and "helped mortgage rates ease up a little this week."

A number of economic reports released this week also helped support the perception of recovery.

The Commerce Department said Tuesday that total retail sales fell 0.2% in April, meeting economists' expectations and reversing a gain of 0.2% in March. But minus volatile auto sales, retail sales rose 0.5% last month, topping the consensus forecast of a 0.2% increase.

On Wednesday, the Labor Department said its Consumer Price Index, a key measure of inflation, rose at a slower-than-expected pace in March. The overall index rose 0.2% last month, compared to the 0.3% increase recorded the month before.

But the component that measures food prices rose to an 18 year high, while the component that measures seasonally adjusted energy prices held steady.

Rates on other types of mortgages were unchanged or lower.

Freddie Mac said 15-year fixed-rate loans averaged 5.60% with an average 0.6 point, unchanged from last week. A year ago, the 15-year rate averaged 5.87%.

Rates on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs) averaged 5.57% this week, with an average 0.6 point, down from last week when it averaged 5.67%. A year ago, the 5-year ARM averaged 5.89%.

One-year Treasury-indexed ARMs averaged 5.18% this week with an average 0.7 point, down from last week when it was 5.29%. At this time last year, the 1-year ARM averaged 5.48%.