2022 Begins with Slight Improvements in Business Conditions for Architecture Firms
Architecture firms began 2022 with a slight improvement in business conditions, according to the January report from the AIA. AIA’s ABI score for January was 51.0 compared to 51.0* in December (any score over 50 indicates billings growth).
Demand for design services continued to grow slightly in February with an AIA’s ABI score of 51.3. Firms reported both project inquiries and design contracts remaining positive in February, but while project inquiries increased to 62.5 from 61.9 in January, design contracts decreased to 55.2 from 56.1 in February.
Key ABI highlights for January include:
Regional averages: South (61.2); Midwest (51.5); West (47.6); Northeast (46.8)
Sector index breakdown: mixed practice (59.3); commercial/industrial (54.2); multi-family residential (50.1); institutional (47.3)
Project inquiries index: 61.9
Design contracts index: 56.1
Key ABI highlights for February include:
Regional averages: South (58.6); Midwest (53.2); West (47.9); Northeast (44.3)
Sector index breakdown: commercial/industrial (55.4); mixed practice (53.8); multi-family residential (52.6); institutional (47.2)
Project inquiries index: 62.5
Design contracts index: 55.2
* Every January the AIA research department updates the seasonal factors used to calculate the ABI, resulting in a revision of recent ABI values.