Hasta La Ideas

What’s become par for the course over the past year or so has happened once again, though this time it’s not as painful as in times past. After a steady two month climb into positive numbers, increasing industry optimism all the way, the American Institute of Architects‘ Architecture Billings Index has taken a dip once more. While the plunge was fairly high by month-to-month standards, dropping four points, it stopped at an even 50.0. As anything above 50 means growth in demand for architectural services and anything below means a decline, leveling out exactly in the middle certainly isn’t the ideal, but it also doesn’t seem like the end of the world, like when it was in free fall back in early 2009. Here’s a bit about the new report from the AIA’s cautiously sage seer of numbers:

“This slowdown is indicative of what is likely to be a very gradual improvement in business conditions at architecture firms for the better part of this year,” said AIA chief economist Kermit Baker. “We’ve been taking a cautiously optimistic approach for the last several months and there is no reason at this point to change that outlook.”

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