 Increased Inquiries Are Not Translating to More Work
With a score of 41.7, the AIA’s Architecture Billings Index (ABI) for August was little changed from July. Business conditions at architecture firms remain weak, with the share of firms reporting declining billings still higher than the share of firms that saw billings increase in August. Since the ABI rebounded from all-time low scores earlier this year to scores regularly in the low 40s, it has stalled and not moved any higher. Conditions at firms are better now than they were last winter, but a recovery is not yet imminent. Inquiries, on the other hand, remain relatively strong, with a score over 50 in August for the sixth month in a row. However, architecture firms continue to report that clients are shopping projects around, meaning that firms are seeing many inquiries but few are translating into actual billable work. 
kiplinger
connection
The Economy • Housing • Energy
The Economy: August sales uptick means little; jobs have to come up.
Housing: Home remodeling improving energy efficiency is a growth area.
Energy: Space-based power generation is finally a thing of the present.
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