Industry Insights
Q1 Architecture
Industry Insights
2026
Curated by Ed Akins II, AIA, LEED AP, cove’s Architecture Industry Insights translate the trends shaping the industry into what firms need to know and do. The Q1 2026 edition covers a quarter of persistent market uncertainty and where firms go from here.
The Future of Multifamily
E-guide
This guide examines why multifamily development has stalled despite the strongest fundamentals in a decade, as interest rates, regulatory costs, and cautious AI adoption hold the industry back. Across three parts, it diagnoses the paradox, highlights the operators and architects quietly transforming how buildings get designed, financed, and run, and offers a pioneer’s playbook for moving now.
Architecture Industry Insights
This report covers the trends, market signals, and strategic considerations shaping architectural practice, including ABI data, construction forecasts, building performance, and evolving market conditions.
Q1 2026
About
the Author
Ed Akins II, AIA
Principal Architect
Ed Akins II, AIA is an architect and educator with a passion for sustainable design and innovative thinking. A former Sustainable Fellow and Interim Chair of the College of Architecture and Construction Management at Kennesaw State University, he holds a Master of Architecture from Georgia Tech and has earned multiple industry accolades.
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Featured Insights
The decisions shaping real estate keep getting harder. This is where we dig into the forces behind them.
We publish reports and e-guides on what developers, owners, and architects are up against right now. We get into the data, talk to the people closest to the work, and give you something you can act on.
The Future of Multifamily
E-guide
Multifamily fundamentals are the strongest they’ve been in a decade, but deals aren’t getting done. Regulatory costs now account for up to 40% of development budgets, up from 28% ten years ago. Interest rates have made most projects impossible to pencil, even with capital available.
The guide profiles operators already using AI to rethink leasing, maintenance, and feasibility. cove’s own work has cut pre-design timelines by 70%. Three parts: the paradox, who’s moving anyway, and what it takes to join them.