The Price of Lumber is Beginning to Become More Affordable
A couple of weeks ago I joked on my Facebook page that Wells Fargo had just dropped off a couple of pieces of plywood at my house. Of course, I had to put them on a ten year finance plan, but after that, they were all mine.
Though I was actually clowning around, lumber prices have been no joke. But, according to the Louisiana Radio Network, it looks like the price of lumber is beginning to drop sharply and that brings on some much needed relief to everyone from do it yourselfers to home builders and anyone else in the construction industry.
So just how much has the price dropped? The latest numbers show that lumber is now under $900 dollars per thousand feet after hitting a record high of $1,686 per thousand feet early last month.
The news means huge savings for those who are currently looking into building a home or first time home-buyers. According to the president of the Louisiana Homebuilders Association Tommy Pinion, “The average house was costing an extra $36,000 to build and for every $1,000 dollar increase we lose a potential 100,000 customers across the country.”
Now, even though lumber prices are beginning to drop, it still hasn't returned to pre-pandemic prices. In March, 2020, lumber was only $303 per thousand feet, but it looks like it's headed in the right direction.
In spite of this drop, Pinion doesn't see homes getting much cheaper, stating “The cost of your homes, is just for some reason everything else has escalated also with the pricing and I do not foresee those prices to go down.”
And even though prices are markedly higher, Pinion doesn't see any slow down to the extremely hot housing market any time soon.