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Wood Industry News

Wood Industry news is a story about the rise and fall of lumber prices during the pandemic in which they hit record highs driving up the cost of housing.

According to Lance Lambert of Fortune magazine, who’s been following this saga, there’s multiple reasons but basically it all boils down to supply and demand and these key drivers:

  • Covid happened, which generated a ton of home improvements by both the pros and DIY’ers
  • Home builders picked up production in Q3 of 2020 which had an immediate impact, and
  • Interest rates dropped causing more home improvements in existing and newly-purchased homes

All of this conspired to drive wholesale lumber prices to $1,515 per 1,000 board feet in May. The good news: according to Fortune, as well as Home Depot’s recent earnings call, the price per 1,000 board feet dropped as low as $432 on 8/9 but has risen a bit to $520 on Friday’s (8/26) close.