Some good news and some bad news for the design and construction industry. The American Institute of Architect’s Architecture Billings Index—The Observer‘s favorite leading indicator—rebounded last month, according to numbers released today.
The index had been declining for the past five months, but it just posted a reading of 51.4 up from a dismal 45.1 in July. (Any reading above 50 means billings, or payments made to architects, are rising, anything below means they are falling.) If this keeps up, it could point to a recovery, albeit a modest one, in about a year for the construction economy, as that is how long it takes for projects to make their way from the drawing board into the ground.
Locally, though, the news is less good, as billings in the Northeastern regional continue to languish, scoring a 46.5, about the same point they have been at for the past three months. Meanwhile, a panel of 100 economists sees the housing market languishing for the next five years, so it looks like the long slog is far from over.
