Hasta La Ideas

After a near-constant drubbing over the last four months, there’s finally been a break from the bad news, with the American Institute of Architects just having released their latest Architecture Billings Index. Instead of yet another slide back into financial uncertainty, the numbers not only went up, but did so to a dramatic degree. Last month the Index had landed at 45.1 (anything above 50 indicates growth across the industry, and anything below means, well, the exact opposite). Now it’s skyrocketed back up to 51.4, a level it hasn’t been at since the start of the year, when optimism was, in hindsight, at far too early high. However, while it’s nice to see a bump, given the rocky ups and downs the industry has weathered for the past few years, this per usual shouldn’t be taken as the end-all-be-all sign that things have completely turned around. Still, it’s nice to hear the AIA’s numbers guru sounding upbeat again:

“Based on the poor economic conditions over the last several months, this turnaround in demand for design services is a surprise,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. “Many firms are still struggling, and continue to report that clients are having difficulty getting financing for viable projects, but it’s possible we’ve reached the bottom of the down cycle.”

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