The NAHB’s Improving Markets Index has been closely tracking the housing recovery, and it put up some its best numbers yet in September.

The National Association of Home Builder’s Improving Markets Index, one of the leading measures of the housing recovery, increased by 44 markets in September to 291, an all-time high for the index since its initiation two years ago.

Assorted via economic analysis, the Improving Markets Index tracks three main measures of housing – housing permits, employment and home prices – and only adds metropolitan areas that see six consecutive months of increases in those measures.

Rick Judson, the NAHB’s chairman, said September’s numbers bode well for the housing market.

“Just over 80 percent of the 361 metros tracked by our index are showing consistent growth in three key measures of housing market strength – prices, permits and employment,” Judson said. “While there is still plenty of room for growth, this is an excellent indication of how the housing recovery has begun to take hold across more geographic areas.”

Here in Illinois, three major metro areas were featured in the September Improving Markets Index: Champaign, Peoria, and of course, sweet home Chicago, where construction permits, home prices and employment are up 1.9, 6.9 and 4.9 percent from their respective troughs.

For further perspective on how the index has grown in the last year, check out our infographic: