Washington, D.C. -- Demand for design services at architecture firms decreased in June in comparison to the previous month, according to a report from The American Institute of Architects (AIA).

AIA’s Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score for June was 49.1, which is down from 50.2 in May. Any score below 50 indicates a decrease in billings. Both the project inquiries index and the design contracts index continued to soften in June but remained positive.

“With billings declining or flat for the last five months, it appears that we are settling in for a period of soft demand for design services,” said Kermit Baker, Ph.D., AIA chief economist. “With the new design contracts score reaching a 10-month low and the project inquiries score hitting a 10-year low, work in the pipeline may start to get worked off, despite current robust backlogs.”

Regional averages were as follows: South (51.9); West (49.3); Midwest (48.9); Northeast (46.1). Sector index breakdown were reported as: mixed practice (54.3); commercial/industrial (52.3); institutional (47.0); multi-family residential (46.3). The project inquiries index and design contracts index were 52.8 and 50.3 respectively.

For more information, visit www.aia.org.