As we head into the summer months, we are finally starting to see a return to pre-pandemic normalcy. As more Americans are getting vaccinated, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to loosen its guidelines on mask wearing. Hopefully it won’t be much longer before we can get together and meet up with people without having to be as worried about the possibility of getting sick or getting anyone else sick.
In other signs of things starting to return to normal, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported this month that the Architecture Billings Index logged its second positive mark since the beginning of the pandemic. The ABI score for March of 55.6 has also not been seen since pre-Great Recession. With the March scores for new project inquiries and new design contracts strengthening, AIA notes that March is the first time in three years that all building sectors and regions posted positive scores.
AIA chief economist, Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, Ph.D., said, “As business activity at architecture firms moves sharply toward recovery, it is very encouraging to simultaneously see such positive indicators of future project work increasing in the pipeline. The activity architecture firms are seeing is a positive bellwether not only for the construction outlook, but also for the larger economy.”
In similar news, a report from the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) noted that the construction industry added 110,000 jobs in March for a total of 931,000 jobs since last April. This accounts for a recovery of almost 84% of the jobs that were lost during the early stages of the pandemic.
Dodge Data and Analytics’ Momentum Index also increased in March, marking its highest level since the summer of 2018. This is due to an increase of institutional projects entering the planning stage as well as a being helped by a similar increase in February.
According to recent economic data reports, things are starting to get back on track. Hopefully we will continue to see similar increases across the board as summer heats up.
