Architecture Billings Index: ABI Decreased MoM to 44.5 in May

Research evidence excerpt

Architecture Billings Index: ABI Decreased MoM to 44.5 in May

J P M O R G A N North America Equity Research

24 June 2026

Architecture Billings Index

ABI Decreased MoM to 44.5 in May

AIA released the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) for May. The ABI Machinery, Engineering &

decreased MoM to 44.5 in May (vs. 48.3 in April and 49.8 in March). The ABI is Construction

a leading indicator of construction activity, and AIA notes that there is normally a Tami Zakaria, CFA AC

9- to 12-month lag between architecture billings and construction spending. An (1-212) 622-9888

ABI score below 50 indicates a decrease in billings. The AIA's new design tami.zakaria@jpmchase.com

contracts index decreased MoM to 45.0 in May (vs. 48.0 in April and 47.8 in Alec R McGuire AC

March), below 50 for the 27th consecutive month. The design contracts index tracks (1-212) 622-2432

trends in the dollar volume of design contracts and is less subjective than the new alec.mcguire@jpmorgan.com

projects inquiry index. The AIA estimates that the design contracts index leads Raquel Betesh

(1-212) 622-1313

changes in billings by ~6 months. New project inquiries decreased to 49.4 in May raquel.betesh@jpmchase.com

(vs. 57.7 in April and 56.8 in March). AIA's Chief Economist, Richard Branch said, J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

"While growth appeared to be approaching earlier this year, the current

economic uncertainty has contributed to business conditions softening across

all regions. Billings remained closest to growth at firms located in the South,

following the trend for most of the year thus far. Firms of all specializations

also reported declining billings this month, after firms with a multifamily

residential specialization saw flat to modestly increasing billings in March

and April.