The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) has published its latest monthly Interior Design Billings Index (IDBI) report, finding that the demand for interior design services is poised to grow considerably over coming months as businesses and institutions undertake additional interior retrofit projects as they move toward re-opening. 

The report, published via the ASID website, finds that "while business conditions are still in contraction territory, the seeds of a recovery for interior design firms may be evident."

The survey, like the American Institute of Architect's Architecture Billings Index (ABI), gauges new project inquiries, contract executions, and overall demand, and is measured using a similar scoring system whereby a score above 50 indicates a growth in demand. The survey for the month of May has a score of 43.5, up from 18.9 in April. The figure, according to ASID's analysis, "suggests a bottoming out has occurred" for this sector of the design industry, adding, "although the IDBI’s three-month moving average remained virtually unchanged at 30.0, optimism about future work was evident as the Inquires index rebounded almost 23 points in May to 46.3."    

The summary continues, "The potential for billings growth was apparent in the West and Midwest regions of the country as indexes rose from April’s lows to 32.7 and 31.2, respectively, in May. The Northeast and South, however, continued their contraction trajectory for billings, reporting 22.4 and 32.5 scores respectively. Reported as three-month moving averages, all regions remained in contractionary mode for May (scores below 50)."  

According to ASID, May's IDBI report represents the first instance since January 2020 that the anticipated demand for future design services scored above 50.