Business conditions for American architecture firms remained in a continued state of decline last month, as reported this morning in the latest AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index. The score for June dropped to 46.8, down from 47.2 in May. Any score below 50.0 signals a decline.

Inquiries into new projects reportedly experienced a second month of upward trend at a score of 53.6. `` The value of newly signed design contracts, however, continued its downward trajectory for the sixteenth consecutive month in June. "It is unlikely that firm billings will return to positive territory until the value of new design contracts also starts to increase again," the ABI report points out.

"Business conditions were soft nationwide in June, with a slight billing increase in the South for the first time since October," AIA Chief Economist Kermit Baker commented on the June numbers. "Other regions saw declining billings, though at a slower pace. While all specializations experienced softer billings, the decline slowed for commercial/industrial and institutional firms. Multifamily firms faced the weakest conditions, with further declines."

June ABI Highlights

Regional averages: South (50.6); Northeast (46.5); Midwest (45.7); West (45.8) Sector index breakdown: institutional (49.2); commercial/industrial (47.4); mixed practice (firms that do not have at least half of their billings in any one other category) (45.5); multifamily residential (43.8) Project inquiries index: 53.6 Design contracts index: 46.0

Another AIA economic report, the mid-year Consensus Construction Forecast released earlier this week,also predicts a rather pessimistic outlook, with spending on nonresidential buildings expected to increase merely 1.7% this year and 2.0% next year. Archinect has covered contributing factors to the ongoing economic uncertainty for architecture firms, including unpredictable trade tariff policies and volatile construction material pricing.

Leading indicator of a construction sector slowdown. 2025 May be the pre-recession period being saved by the fiscal put and the AI bubble that is brewing right in front of us. Another month of weak data in the Architecture space.