The Cascade Team Blog

By: Liza Alley

Lumber prices have spiked in 2021, driving up housing prices even higher. “Given the rapid rise in lumber prices,” the report says, “the total cost of lumber and manufactured lumber products for an average single family home has soared 184% from April 2020 to April 2021, rising to $48,316.”

The report found that the spike in lumber and related materials has added over $34K to the price of a new home over the past year. 

 

With the cost of lumber souring, I couldnt help but wonder and ask myself... just how much has this impacted the cost of new homes? Yahoo! Finance explains in this article  

 In an even more recent article, HERE Fortune talks about how Covid 19 impacted lumber prices and how many people started working on home projects. This has ultimately lead to a considerable shortage. And it seems like Canada isnt doing any better...

When COVID-19 broke out in spring 2020, sawmills cut production and unloaded inventory in fears of a looming housing crash. The crash didn’t happen—instead, the opposite occurred. Americans rushed to Home Depot and Lowe’s to buy up materials for do-it-yourself projects, while recession-induced interest rates helped spur a housing boom.

Supply of Canadian softwood, a favorite among U.S. homebuilders, hasn’t recovered as quickly. Canadian timber supply is limited by its own perfect storm: British Columbia’s forest fires, beetle infestations, and the slow growth rate of spruce trees. 

With the cost of lumber, its less likely my husband and I will build that dream deck that we were planning for this Summer. Lets just hope the price of lumber will go down sometime soon