Architectural Billings Up Again

I'm not sure how I missed the November ABI data, but since it's a new year, let's start fresh.  And luckily, it's good news.  The AIA's Architecture Billing Index (ABI), a leading indicator of construction, is up again, and 2012 finished at its highest since 2007.  Booyah!  The full press release can be found here.

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The only real bad news, at least for us in the west, is that the measure is still slightly below 50 for that region (less than 50 corresponds to a decrease in billings, greater than 50 is an increase in billings).  The west has shown some weakness over the past few months, but it's way lows of May 2012.  Every sector is above 50, which is also good.  All in all, a pretty good report, particularly since the economic recovery is still a bit fragile.