Well, Wood You Look at That? U.S. Lumber Prices Continue To Drop
If these trends continue, the summer of 2021 might be the summer you get to rebuild your deck after all.
It was mid-April of this year that we first alerted you to the fact that the cost of lumber was out of control in the United States. After some digging, the answer that kept being thrown at us as to why prices were so astronomical was that when everyone was stuck at home during the height of the pandemic, they figured they'd set out to tackle some home improvement projects and since the lumber mills were closed, the demand for lumber was greater than the supply.
Panic definitely set in when people realized that they might not be able to afford the lumber they needed to finish various projects and because the cost of lumber shot through the roof, the cost to build a new home also skyrocketed because contractors had to pay more for lumber to construct homes.
If you felt a tightness in your chest and panic in your veins that your unfinished projects requiring lumber were doomed to never be completed, you can let out your breath because lumber prices are finally starting to even out.
Bloomberg says lumber prices are down 41 percent from where they were at this time last month and expected to continue to drop. With the price of lumber lowering another new trend has emerged...lumber hoarders who the Wall Street Journal say snatched up lumber and then turned around (opportunistically, obviously) and sold it to desperate people at sky-high prices are now trying to unload their "inventory" before they take a financial hit.
Let this be a lesson, if we all only take what we need, we won't find ourselves in this predicament. Oddly, I'm not sure if Americans will ever take this lesson to heart...