The American Institute of Architects’ latest data show that the Architectural Billings Index slowed from 53.3 in June to 51.7 in September, above the benchmark of 50 (scores over 50 indicate an increase in firm billings). New inquiries and design contracts also dropped from the previous month, from 57.9 to 53.6, and from 52.3 to 50.7, respectively.

“While billings in the Northeast region and the institutional sector reached their highest pace of growth in several years, there appears to be emerging weakness in the previously healthy multifamily residential and commercial/industrial sectors, both of which saw a decline in billings for the first time since the post-pandemic recovery began,” said AIA chief economist, Kermit Baker. “Across the broader architecture sector, backlogs at firms remained at a robust seven months as of the end of September, still near record-high levels since we began collecting this data regularly more than a decade ago.” Compare recent ABI scores with the interactive graph below.