Price of lumber going sky high on building new homes.
Price of Lumber going sky high on building new homes. new construction homes in NJ and South Jersey shore.
KEY POINTS Lumber prices top $1,000 for the first time as single-family housing starts drop 12% Lumber prices inched over $1,000 per 1,000 board feet, according to Random Length Lumber Futures for March. That’s double the price from just three months ago. Starts of single-family homes, which are the most desperately needed, fell 12% compared with December, according to the U.S. Census. Private residential construction in the U.S. rose 2.7% in November. ** Consumers want more newly built, affordable homes, BUT builders are finding that hard to deliver, especially as prices for framing lumber spike ever higher.**
Lumber prices inched above $1,000 per 1,000 board feet Thursday morning before falling back below that milestone, according to Random Length Lumber Futures for March. The high of $1,004.90 is DOUBLE the price from just three months ago and a record.
Higher lumber costs are likely behind a drop in January housing starts. Starts of single-family homes, which are the most desperately needed, fell 12% from December, according to the U.S. Census.
“Builders report concerns over increasing lumber and other construction costs and delays in obtaining building materials,” wrote Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders. “Rising interest rates will also erode housing affordability in 2021, as inventories of existing homes remain low.”