Image courtesy American Institute of Architects (AIA)
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported business conditions remained soft at architecture firms in November, as its AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) remained below 50 with a score of 45.3 for the month. Scores below 50 indicates declining billings. The score increased by one point from October, indicating slightly fewer firms reported a decline in billings in November, but the majority of firms continued to report weak business for the fourth consecutive month, and the seventh month in 2023. However, there are still some encouraging signs of potential work in the pipeline as inquiries bounced back in November after declining in October. And, while the value of new signed design contracts continued to decrease in November, fewer firms reported a decline than in October.
Billings also remained weak at firms around the country in November, with firms in all regions reporting a decline for the fourth consecutive month. Business conditions remained softest at firms located in the West, which has been the case since March. And firms of all specializations also reported declining billings this month, with conditions remaining weakest at firms with a multifamily residential specialization. Billings also continued to decline further at firms with an institutional specialization, which was the strongest sector earlier this year.
