According to the recent National Association of Home Builders/First American Improving Markets Index, 103 housing markets were qualified to be listed as “improving.” That is up from last month’s figure of 99 markets and the largest number of improving metro areas since the Index was created last year.

Of that number, eleven metro areas were added as improving while 92 markets still retained their spots on the list. Those that were added were Santa Cruz, CA; Albany and Savannah, GA; Honolulu, HI; Pocatello, ID; Lake Charles, LA; Raleigh, NC; Cincinnati, OH; Oklahoma City. OK; State College, PA; and Abilene, TX.

The additions more than make up for the seven metros that fell off the Index: Jacksonville and Lakeland, FL; Bloomington, IN; Lawton, OK; Bend, OR; Texarkana, TX; and Charlottesville, VA.

The Improving Markets Index is designed to track housing markets throughout the country that are showing signs of improving economic health. This includes growth of employment, appreciation of home prices and the increase in single-family housing permits. A metropolitan are must see improvement in all three measures for at least six months following those measures’ respective troughs before being included on the improving markets list.