Are Lumber Prices Finally Starting To Normalize?
Scott P. Rogers
If you haven't heard -- lumber prices skyrocketed during COVID.
The graph above shows only the past 12 months. If we look a bit further back we can get a bit more context...
- Jan 2017 = $304
- Jan 2018 = $461
- (May 2018 = $639)
- Jan 2019 = $328
- Jan 2020 = $398
So, "normal" over the four years prior to COVID seemed to be a range of around $300 to $475 --- although prices did rise to $639 back in mid 2018.
But then, as lumber mills shut down due to COVID and production slowed, prices skyrocketed, getting as high as $1,635 in May 2021.
But over the past month, that price has fallen quite a bit...
- $1,635 on 5/3/2021
- $891 on 6/21/2021
So, a nearly 50% decline in prices over the past 45 days? That is solid progress towards getting lumber prices back to their long term normal-ish range.
Hopefully this will mean we'll start to see more new construction, creating more housing inventory, and easing the inventory strained housing market...
