Residential Design Index makes another leap upward.

For the second month in a row, the RDIndex has risen by one point.Moreover, the numbers indicate that the industry is increasing their staff, either by direct hires or by subcontracting. Just in time, building designers are reporting that their backlog of contracted projects are the highest they’ve been in quite some time.

A 2.68 RDIndex is a sign of things to come in Q3 and possibly in the last month of Q2. With all of the indicators showing a definite increase, residential single-family housing permits should be showing improvement. New inquiries have increased by 3.5 index points in two months. Which provides confidence the influx of new permit activity will remain steady or strengthen through the summer months, according to the American Institute of Building Design’s (AIBD), Residential Design Index (RDIndex). 

Three of the four regions yielded a similar increase in ratings, with the South showing a higher than national index rating and the West dialing back slightly, although still strong. Northeast has discontinued its negative RDIndex number but continues to remain flat at 0.0. 

Last month, the staff size indicator continued at a low rating of 0.52 but spiked dramatically in March with a one and a half point uptick. However, it is the South and West supporting the positive numbers. The Northeast and Midwest are at 0.0 or slightly above. Which aligns with the number of inquiries reported, which also has declined month over month in both regions.

The Residential Design Index (RDIndex) is a leading indicator measuring the current workload, backlog, and stock plan sales of AIBD members and non-member Certified Professional Building Designers (CPBDs). Thus, indicating the future activity in the single-family housing industry by measuring the health and future of residential designs in production, hiring trends and project cancelations or delays. A positive index reflects an increase in new home designs entering into construction estimating, contracting, mortgage and permitting over the next two to three months. For more information, such as the methodology, visit AIBD.org/rdi.

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