Architecture Billings Index: ABI Increased MoM to 47.3 in June

Research evidence excerpt

Architecture Billings Index: ABI Increased MoM to 47.3 in June

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

22 July 2026

Architecture Billings Index

ABI Increased MoM to 47.3 in June

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

increased MoM to 47.3 in June (vs. 44.5 in May and 48.3 in April). The ABI is a Construction

leading indicator of construction activity, and AIA notes that there is normally a 9- Tami Zakaria, CFA AC

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

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

index increased MoM to 49.8 in June (vs. 45.0 in May and 48.0 in April), below Alec R McGuire AC

50 for the 28th consecutive month. The design contracts index tracks trends in the (1-212) 622-2432

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

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

(1-212) 622-1313

billings by ~6 months. New project inquiries increased to 56.1 in June (vs. 49.4 in raquel.betesh@jpmchase.com

May and 57.7 in April). Backlogs declined slightly in the second quarter, falling J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

to an average of 6.3 months from 6.6 months in the first quarter. The sharpest

decline was among small firms with annual billings of less than $250,000, where

backlogs fell from an average of 4.9 months to 3.1 months. AIA's Chief Economist,

Richard Branch said, "Architecture firms remain mired in one of the longest-

running downturns in the 30-plus year history of the ABI, which now stretches

to 41 months without a majority of firms reporting billings growth, The