Architecture Billings Declined to 45.3 in November

Washington, DC, December 17, 2025-The AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score for November was 45.3, marking the 13th consecutive month of declining billings at architecture firms, and the 35th month of a score below 50 out of the last 38.

The billings score for October was 47.6

Inquiries into new projects only increased modestly this month, and the value of newly signed design contracts continued to soften. Firms are unlikely to see a significant increase in billings until work in the pipeline resumes.

“Weakness in business conditions at architecture firms continues to be widespread, with declining billings across all major specializations and in every region except the Midwest,” said Kermit Baker, PhD, AIA chief economist. “However, inquiries for new projects continued to increase, and design activity at firms in the Midwest – a region that traditionally has had a disproportionate share of manufacturing activity – appears to have hit its bottom for this cycle and is expected to continue to improve.”

Regional averages were as follows: Midwest (52.3); South (46.1); West (43.6); Northeast (43.1).

The sector index breakdown was institutional (47.6); multifamily residential (46.6); commercial/industrial (45.2); mixed practice (firms that do not have at least half of their billings in any one other category) (44.5).

The project inquiries index score was 51.4, and the design contracts index score was 42.7.