Bad News From the Architectural Billings Index

The post-recession expansion of design work began to slow earlier this year, and is now in full contraction in parts of the country and in parts of the architecture industry.

1 minute read

September 24, 2019, 1:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


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Lyu Hu / Shutterstock

Non-residential construction in the United States continues to dip in the United States, in further evidence of a cooling industry and, potentially, economy, according to an article by Sydney Franklin.

"Per the AIA’s monthly Architecture Billings Index (ABI), the demand for design services on commercial, industrial, and mixed practice projects has fallen from a score of 50.1 in July to 47.2 in August," reports Franklin.

In May, the ABI ended 25 months of growth, reaching negative territory for the first time in two years. There was some good news, however, in the West and on institutional and multi-family residential projects, but also more bad news in other regions and project types.

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