Business conditions generally held steady at architecture firms in June, as the AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score of 50.1 continued to indicate slight billings growth at firms. This also marked the first time since last fall that there have been two consecutive months of increasing billings at architecture firms, although growth in June was weaker than in May. Inquiries into new work remained fairly strong as well, as did the value of newly signed design contracts, which saw their strongest growth since January. And while firm backlogs have decreased somewhat from their record-high levels in 2022, they remain robust, averaging 6.8 months.
Firms in nearly all regions of the country also reported improving business conditions in June, with firms located in the Midwest continuing to see the strongest billings for the eighth consecutive month. Billings growth also resumed at firms located in the Northeast, following monthly declines since last October. Conditions remained more mixed by firm specialization, however, as firms with multifamily residential and commercial/industrial specializations continued to report softness. However, billings continued to grow at firms with an institutional specialization this month, reaching their highest level since the immediate post-pandemic recovery period.
