Lumber Prices Surge Over 17% Year-Over-Year
Like just about every other building component the price of lumber has skyrocketed this past year. Even with a brief period of stability this past summer, the price of lumber is on the rise again and according to a new analysis from the National Association of Home Builders, it has jumped 17.2 percent from this […]
Are Lumber Prices Stabilizing as 2025 Approaches?
New data suggests that pricing for lumber will be more predictable giving builders more confidence in pricing. Madison’s Lumber Reporter, the well-regarded source for pricing information, is forecasting more stability going forward for lumber producers and end-users. “Given that the macroeconomic indicators and specific factors affecting the lumber industry last year are well known,” Keta […]
Atlanta Wood Foundation Reusing Trees, One at a Time
A new organization in the Georgia city is repurposing fallen trees for furniture and other secondary uses. Georgia has long been known for its forests and as a key supplier for lumber for the building trade. But an Atlanta non-profit organization is harvesting timber on a much smaller scale as a way to repurpose fallen […]
Lumber Prices Don’t Get Usual Spring Boost
As the building and construction sectors continue to struggle, reduced demand for lumber is depressing prices this year. In the spring a builder’s thoughts always turn to buying wood. But not so much this year. With both residential and commercial building not getting its usual bump in the spring season, lumber prices are at levels […]
Have Building Material Prices Peaked?
New data from the Producer Price Index suggests that costs are coming down on things like softwood lumber as part of an overall decline in material costs. The wild ride up in construction materials in 2023 may have peaked as the year ended and going into 2024 we could see some declines in those costs, […]
Why the Home Depot Results Are Good for the Home Improvement Category
Even though its sales for the most recent quarter were slightly down, there were many positive things in Home Depot’s second quarter earnings results. If there is one retailer most closely followed by those in the lumber and wood products sectors it is Home Depot. So, its second quarter results, released last week, were studied […]
Forest Wildfire Smoke Signals Bigger Issues for Lumber Industry
Smoke from those Canadian forest wildfires is not only wreaking havoc with outdoor activities in the U.S. but also driving up lumber prices and shutting down sawmills north of the border. The fires were an inconvenience and health hazard to those going outside and even resulted in some Major League Baseball games being canceled but […]
Lumber Producers Seeing Wall Street Gains Thanks to Housing Rebound
As home builders’ stock prices climb due to the rebound in the overall housing market this spring and are projected to continue into the summer, another group is benefiting too: the companies producing all that lumber to build those houses. A housing market that has seen few existing homes going up for sale due to […]
What Do the New Home Depot and Lowe’s Results Mean for the Building Business?
The new financial results from the two big home improvement chains show both the pro and do-it-yourself building sectors have slowed down…but it’s not all bad news. If the building industry needed any more proof of the slowdown in the construction sector they didn’t have to look any further than the new first-quarter financial results […]
The Lumber-Futures Contract Has Been Replaced…with a New Lumber-Futures Contract
It had been the standard for the lumber business for years and now it’s gone. A new lumber-futures contract has been created, designed to help reduce price volatility…a good thing. During much of the pandemic years when supply chain issues coupled with big demand drove lumber prices sky-high – only to fall again as supply […]