Dive summary:

• Folks who thought the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) monthly Architecture Billings Index (ABI) had signaled steady growth in construction for all of this year got a disappointment in the just-collected April reports from firms as their billings fell for the first time in eight months.
• However, all is not bleak with the index, which forecasts what contractors and builders can expect nine to 12 months out – inquiries about projects and contracts for future work continued to grow.
• AIA said there were definite variations regionally, with the South continuing to bill more while the West was up just slightly and the Northeast and Midwest regions both broke multi-month strings of increases.

From the article:

Firms concentrating on the residential sector reported growth, as they have for 12 straight months now. However, the pace of growth for residential firms has slowed dramatically over the past two months. ...