After architecture firms experienced their first decline in billings in nearly two years in October, business conditions softened further in November, as the AIA’s Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score fell to 46.6, any score below 50 indicates a decline in firm billings. While inquiries into new projects continued to rise modestly, the value of new design contracts also declined further in November. This indicates that not only are firms seeing a decline in current work, but that less new work is entering the pipeline as well.
Business conditions also softened in nearly all regions of the country in November. Only firms located in the South, where firms have seen some of the strongest growth throughout the post-pandemic period, reported a small increase in billings. Firms in the Northeast have seen the largest decline in billings so far, and only experienced a few months of growth earlier this year before returning to negative territory. Firms of all specializations also saw weaker business conditions this month, including those with an institutional specialization, where conditions had been fairly robust recently.
