AIA’s monthly Architecture Billings Index remained strong in April, falling 1.5 points from March's score of 58.0. The ABI is a leading economic indicator of construction activity in the U.S. and reflects a nine- to 12-month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending nationally, regionally, and by project type. A score above 50 represents an increase in billings from the previous month, while a score below 50 represents a contraction.
Design contracts and new project inquiries moderated but remained strong in April. New project inquiries posted a score of 62.3, falling 1.6 points from March's score of 63.9. Design contracts came in at 55.4 points, dipping 5.1 points from March's score of 60.5. “While business conditions at architecture firms have been very encouraging over the past year, project activity has been steadily shifting toward work on existing buildings,” said AIA chief economist, Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, in a press release from AIA. “Billings for reconstruction projects exceeded those for new construction for the first time in the last two decades. While the reconstruction share of building activity will continue to ebb and flow, in general, we’ll continue to move toward an increased share of building activity for reconstruction and a decreased share for new construction.”
The month-to-month changes in scores for regional billings—which, unlike the national score, are calculated as three-month moving averages—rose in April. All four regional billing scores gained ground and remained above 50.0. Billings in the Midwest increased 1.4 points to a score of 57.6, while billings in the West rose 4.2 points to a score of 58.2. Billings in the South increased 0.1 points to a score of 57.3, and billings in the Northeast rose 6.8 points to a score of 53.1.
All four of April's sector billings scores remained above 50.0 and three out of four scores increased from their March values. The commercial/industrial sector rose 3.5 points to a score of 60.7; the institutional sector increased 0.3 point to a score of 51.8. The multifamily residential score held steady at 57.2, and the mixed practice sector rose 3.0 points to a score of 61.2. Like the regional billings scores, sector billings scores are also calculated as three-month moving averages.
