Economics  

The Architecture Billings Index (ABI), produced monthly by the AIA Economics and Market Research Group, indicates that following March’s plummet, billings at architecture firms sank even lower in April, as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to severely affect firm business. The ABI score declined to 29.3, a new all-time low for the index (a score below 50 indicates decreasing billings), with more than half of responding firms reporting a further decline in their firm billings from March to April.

Commercial Observer magazine's "Class A Meet Plan B: How the Coronavirus Could Impact NYC's Newly Built Office Space" explains that the post-COVID 19 pain for the Big Apple's office space market goes deeper than construction; it includes absorbing the space that failed businesses will leave behind. Compounding the problem will be a post-disaster historically cautious survivor's market, which will tend toward renewing existing space rather than upgrading to bigger and better space.