Billings at architecture firms remained flat in July, with an AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score of 50 for the month. A score of 50 means that the share of firms that reported a decline in their billings in July equals the share of firms that reported an increase in their billings for the month. Inquiries into new projects continued to grow but at a slightly slower pace than in the last two months. However, the value of newly signed design contracts was flat in July, which means that firms saw fewer clients committing to projects than they had in the previous two months.
While billings were flat nationally, firms in the Midwest continued to report improving business conditions in July, marking the ninth consecutive month of growth for firms in the region. Firms in all other areas of the country saw modest declines in billings, most notably at firms in the South, which had previously seen three months of growth. Business conditions also improved at firms with both commercial/industrial and institutional specializations in July, with firms with a commercial/industrial specialization reporting their strongest billings in more than a year. Billings remained very soft at firms with a multifamily residential specialization, where it has now been a year since they last reported growth.
