More negative tea leaves of what is to come in 2010. In a sign of what is to come within the coming year, the Architecture Billings Index — which is compiled from a monthly survey of architecture firms around the U.S. – is a clarion call of leading economic indicators (a precursor of building activity over the next year):

• Still showing doward trending …. Demand for design fell less than 1 point in April 2009. The April 2009 rating was 42.8, down from the 43.7 mark in March 2009. Scores above 50 indicate increases in billings and lower numbers show declining workloads.

• Where will we be a  year from now? The Index shows that design demand (and therefore building projects over the next year)is nearly 3 points below its rating a year ago (in 2008)

• April 2009 was the first time since August 2008 and September 2008 that the index was above 40 for consecutive months, but still indicates an overall drop in demand for design services.

Some Good News Regarding Inquiries: The index does point to possible economic improvement, with inquiries by potential clients going up. The new projects inquiry score was 56.8 in April 2009.

Regional ratings:

• 39.2 for the West

• 45.0 for the South

• 40.1 for the

  Midwest

• 47.1 for the Northeast (better than the rest and getting closer to normal!!)

Project types are as follows:

• Mixed practice (44.2)

• Institutional (43.2)

• Multi-family residential (43.2)

• Commercial / industrial (41.7)

Tags: Architecture Billing Index, Leading Economic Indicator

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