The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has published its Architecture Billings Index (ABI) report for the month of August, showing stalled business conditions for architecture firms and a further decline in demand for design services, represented by an unchanged score of 40.0 for the third consecutive month.

August ABI Highlights

• Architecture Billings Index score for August: 40.0
• Regional averages: Midwest (41.7); South (41.6); West (41.3); Northeast (33.9)
• Sector index breakdown: multi-family residential (49.4); mixed practice (41.9); institutional (40.2); commercial/industrial (35.5)
• Project inquiries index: 51.6
• Design contracts index: 46.0

"Unfortunately, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many architecture firms are finding fewer inquiries that convert to billable projects," said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, PhD. "While fewer firms reported declining billings in August than during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the fact that the score has been unchanged for the last three months shows that the recovery from this downturn is not progressing at the pace we had hoped to see."