U.S. Architectural Market Trends 2013 – PATCO Consulting, LLC

As we go through the midpoint of 2013, I thought it would be of interest to take a look at what has been said earlier in the year about this  and how the expected trends would compare to what actually is currently taking place in the local market here in the U.S. Denver seems to be doing better than most places, pending what market you are involved in. Health Care seems steady and residential is just starting to pickup after a long slow period the last three or so years. Interest rates in the residential mortgage loan area have been picking up quite fast for the month of June. In May you could get a rate of 3.25 percent, now in June we have jumped to the high 4.0 percent and could get into the 5.0 percent plus range by the end of the month, pending on the type of loan you are applying for.

Government projects are limited and the competition is fierce. Of course you have to look at the current political climate and take a  best guess at the influence of what seems to be a very unpredictable decision making process and try to determine if there will be any substantial legislation that will be beneficial to the design market. The current federal administration has reversed the course for Architects and is bringing back Architectural Design and Mangement in-house over a broad scope of agencies, similar to the pre 80′s  market. That hiring seems to have slowed down quite a gret deal in Denver this year. Solar and Green are always a good thought and have been a good boost for the local market in Colorado. However, these two area’s are almost always trendy and pass in due time. The ROI in these two markets is just to longterm for the up front investment that is needed to make them work on a large enough scale.

Commercial and mixed-use is coming back at a good pace in Colorado. The state of Colorado has focused a lot of interest on developing travel and the art’s. This is good for the general economy, but for the Design industry, it has a slow hit-and-miss trickle effect over time. From what I see and hear, the money flow is getting better, but not liquid enough to excel the market very fast or very soon. The AIA National released an article outlining their findings “Architecural Trends 2013″. This is a very informative article and the next post will will focus on market trends for the engineering and construction industries.

Here is a link to the article released by the AIA in regard to the U.S. Architectural Trends 2013: Link  2013 Forecasts-First Half

Downtown Denver – Architectural Market Trends 2013