AIA Releases Latest Architecture Billings Index

The AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index remained below 50 for the fourth consecutive month. The score of 45.3 increased by one point from October, indicating slightly fewer firms reporting a decline in billings. Any score below 50 indicates decreasing business conditions, but there are encouraging signs of the pipeline.

Firms in all regions reported a decline in billings, with business conditions remaining softest at firms located in the West as the region’s billings hit a low for the year. Firms specializing in multi-family residential continue to remain the weakest and business conditions declined further at firms with institutional specialization, despite being the strongest to start 2023.

The ABI score is a leading economic indicator of construction activity, providing an approximately nine-to-12-month glimpse into the future of nonresidential construction spending activity. The score is derived from a monthly survey of architecture firms that measures the change in the number of services provided to clients.

Key ABI highlights for November include:

• Regional averages: Northeast (44.4); Midwest (49.0); South (46.7); West (39.5)
• Sector index breakdown: commercial/industrial (45.7); institutional (46.6); mixed practice (firms that do not have at least half of their billings in any one other category) (42.7); multifamily residential (42.1)
• Project inquiries index: 56.9
• Design contracts index: 48.1

The regional and sector categories are calculated as three-month moving averages and may not always average out to the national score.

For more information, visit aia.org.