Architectural billings are surging, and that's good news for CM students.

The American Institute of Architects released it's September Architectural Billings Index (ABI).  It's at 54.3, up from 53.8 in August (a value >50 indicates and increase in billings).  The ABI is considered a leading indicator for construction activities.

The above figure is courtesy of Bill McBride at the Calculated Risk Blog.

Some other details:

• The new projects inquiry index in September was 58.6, down from 63.o in August
• Regional averages showed strongest activity in the West (good for us) at 60.6, followed by the South (54.1), Midwest (51.0), and Northeast (50.7)
• In terms of specific sectors, commercial/industrial was strongest (57.9), followed by multi-family residential (55.6), mixed practice, which is a new category for the ABI as far as I can tell (55.4), and institutional (50.4).  

Over the last year, multi-family led the pack.  It will be interesting to watch if commercial/industrial stays out front.