The Construction Economist — August 22, 2026

Architecture billings extend the longest slump on record · Housing starts fall 12.4% in July · A 50% duty on Canadian imports lands Saturday · Pennsylvania hands data center vetoes to towns · A 10-gigawatt campus rises on a Cold War uranium site

Top News

Architecture Firm Billings Remained Soft in July The American Institute of Architects · ~3 min read

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported that the AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index (ABI) fell to 46.6 in July from 47.3 in June, with any reading below 50 indicating a decline in billings. The slump has now run nearly three and a half years, the longest in the index's history, and billings fell across all four regions and every specialization — the Northeast weakest at 44.8 for a second straight month, mixed-practice firms lowest by sector at 43.2. Project inquiries held above the threshold at 52.6 while the value of newly signed design contracts fell to 47.2.

What it means: ABI leads nonresidential construction by nine to twelve months, so July's 46.6 is a statement about the work that reaches jobsites in mid-2027, not about this quarter. The two sub-indices name the mechanism — inquiries at 52.6, signed contracts at 47.2 — meaning owners are still shopping projects but fewer are committing, which is how a design pipeline thins without the phone going quiet. Read it against ABC's backlog, which fell to 8.0 months the week before: the order book is shrinking, and the thing that refills it has not turned.

Housing Starts Retreat on Market Headwinds NAHB Eye on Housing · ~3 min read

Overall housing starts fell 12.4% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.24 million units, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Census Bureau. The National Association of Home Builders attributed the retreat to economic uncertainty, rising construction costs, labor shortages and elevated financing expenses. Single-family construction is down almost 7% over the first seven months of 2026.

Materials & Supply Chain

Trump Delays 50% Tariffs on Canada Imports for 3 Days Supply Chain Dive · ~2 min read

A proclamation signed Tuesday pushes the effective date of a 50% tariff on Canadian imports from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22, while the two countries continue to negotiate. The three-day delay is the latest in a series of postponements to the duty.

Letter to the Editor in The Washington Post: These Tariffs Are Working American Iron and Steel Institute · ~2 min read

The American Iron and Steel Institute published a letter responding to an Aug. 11 Washington Post editorial on Chinese export practices. The trade group wrote that heavy Chinese subsidies fuel a glut of exports that distort global markets, a problem it says American steel producers and U.S. manufacturers have long raised.

Policy, Codes & Regulation

Corporate Transparency Act Requirements Rolled Back AGC News · ~2 min read

U.S. contractors are now exempt from federal beneficial ownership reporting, according to the Associated General Contractors of America. The Corporate Transparency Act had required covered companies to report the identities of their beneficial owners to the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Sweeping New Data Center Rules Give Local Governments More Leverage in Pennsylvania Smart Cities Dive · ~3 min read

New Pennsylvania rules give local governments greater say over whether data center projects move forward in their jurisdictions. Gov. Josh Shapiro said that if the local community does not approve a project, the state will not approve it either.

Owner Moves

NVIDIA Partners With SB Energy on 10-GW AI Data Center Complex in Ohio ENR · ~4 min read

NVIDIA is backing SB Energy's PORTS-Pike Technology Campus near Piketon, Ohio, a planned 10-gigawatt data center complex on the site of a Cold War-era uranium enrichment plant. NVIDIA is committing as much as $105 billion toward land, power and shell capacity and will exclusively supply compute for the campus, which OpenAI has leased. The site is planned with a matching 10 gigawatts of on-site generation, roughly 9.2 gigawatts of it natural gas, and a first phase of about 800 megawatts targeted for 2028.

AECOM Hunt-Turner-HORUS JV Selected for $2.3B Tampa Bay Rays Stadium Construction Dive · ~3 min read

A joint venture of AECOM Hunt, Turner Construction and HORUS Construction was selected to build a $2.3 billion ballpark for the Tampa Bay Rays. The selection depends on approval of a financing plan by the city and Hillsborough County, Florida, expected over the coming weeks, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Select Water Plans $120M, 100-Mile New Mexico Pipeline Buildout ENR · ~3 min read

Select Water is planning a $120 million, 100-mile pipeline expansion in southeastern New Mexico. The multiyear program links recycling facilities, storage sites and disposal wells into an integrated water network serving Permian Basin oilfields.

The Construction Economist — What's Moving Construction? The Economic Look-Ahead.