Author: kkosman

  • US New Home Sales: Sept 2019

    Contracts for new, single-family home sales in the US inched down -0.7% in September to a 701,000 seasonally adjusted annual rate according to estimates from the joint release of HUD and the Census Bureau. The decline came off a downwardly revised August estimate, which was decreased from an initial reading of 713,000 to a new…

  • Madison’s Western SPF Lumber Prices Oct 24: sneak preview

    After rising +$2 last week, the price of benchmark softwood lumber item Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&Btr climbed further this week, Oct 24, 2019, up +$8 to US$378 mfbm; Utility/#3 grade 2×4 gained +$8 to US$250 mfbm.

  • US Existing Home Sales, House Prices: Aug & Sept 2019

    After reaching 17-month high last month, existing home sales in the US, released by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Tuesday, fell more than expected in September 2019 despite low mortgage rates. Total existing home sales, including single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops, dropped -2.2% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.38 million in September.…

  • Softwood Lumber Prices Moderate Downward Over One-Month-Ago

    Last week Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&Btr rose +$2 to close at US$370 mfbm. Last week’s price is -$12 less than it was one month ago. However compared to one year ago, when it was US$356 mfbm, this price is up +$14, or almost +4%. In a time when literally no one knows what is…

  • Province Specific Impacts of the 2006 United States-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement: A Seemingly Unrelated Regression Approach

    In November 2016 Madison’s was co-author of an economics study on the impacts of the 2006 Canada-US Softwood Lumber Agreement on each of Canada’s provincial forest industries: The full report “Province Specific Impacts of the 2006 United States-Canada Softwood Lumber Agreement: A Seemingly Unrelated Regression Approach” is available for a small fee here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934117303209 AbstractIn…