NEW YORK — An encouraging report on the housing market is pushing most stocks higher, while Facebook takes another fall.

The Dow Jones industrial average is up 48 points to 12,552 shortly before noon.

Stock indexes traded flat until the National Association of Realtors said Americans bought more previously owned houses in April, a hopeful sign for the sluggish housing market. The median price rose 10 percent over the past year.

Homebuilders including PulteGroup and Lennar shot up after the report.

In other trading, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 9 points to 1,325. The Nasdaq composite index rose 13 points to 2,860.

Facebook kept sliding, dropping 3 percent in early trading. The stock is now trading at about $33, five dollars below its initial offering price.