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Positive signs of a recovery are emerging from the U.S. architecture industry with the release of monthly data from the American Institute of Architecture.

The AIA‘s Architecture Billings Index – a comparison of monthly billing trends in the architecture industry – increased in November, marking only the second month the index has increased since the beginning of 2008. The November index also marked the index’s strongest monthly performance since December 2007.

At the end of November, the index sat at 52, a four point gain from the end of October. Any number above 50 marks an increase in billing since the previous month, while anything below denotes a decrease.

Billing increases were reported in every region of the country except the West. While the West saw a 2.5 point increase in the index, the index was still below the 50 point threshold, meaning billings were down from a month previous, but at a lesser rate than months before that.

Residential construction architecture firms reported the highest reading of all sectors, 54.3, the highest reading since July 2007. Conversely, the billing index for commercial and industrial construction architecture firms dipped below the 50 point threshold for the first time since April of this year.