Economy

ABI Drops for Second Month in a Row

January 23, 2014

The Architecture Billings Index declined in December to 48.5 from 49.8 in November, marking the first consecutive monthly decline since May and June of 2012. Chief Economist Kermit Baker was unsure why the demand for architectural services is slowing and attributes some of the decline to anxiety caused by the government shutdown. Baker said “it will be important to see how business conditions fare through the first quarter of the new year when we no longer have end of the year issues to deal with.”

The new projects inquiry rose to 59.2 from a reading of 57.8 in November.

Calculated on a three month moving average, the regional averages were as follows: West 53.2, South 51.2, Midwest 47.0, and Northeast 42.8.

For the sector index breakdown was as follows: multi-family residential 53.8, mixed practice 51.0, commercial/industrial 47.1, and institutional 44.8.

As a leading economic indicator of construction activity, the ABI reflects the approximate nine to twelve month lead time between architecture billings and construction spending.

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{amchart id=”64″ AIA ABI Index}