Author: kkosman

The housing market represents about 15 percent to 18 percent of US GDP, said Lindsey Bell, Investment Strategist at CFRA, citing figures from the National Association of Home Builders.

Madison’s Lumber Reporter has partnered with Canadian Forest Industries magazine. Our weekly North America lumber and panel price update will be featured on their website every Tuesday:https://www.woodbusiness.ca/softwood-lumber-prices-rebound-as-construction-material-buying-season-gets-going/

Immediately at the beginning of January, wholesaler prices of benchmark lumber commodity Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&Btr started rising off full-year 2018 lows, finishing last week at US$404 mfbm, a $58 or +14.4% increase from $346 the week before. At close Monday, lumber futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were US$423, a historically-appropriate $25 premium…

See for yourself the amazing correlation between select US home building and sales data when compared to Canadian and US lumber prices over the past ten years. Below are various graphs comparing this very important data 2007 to present. The numbers don’t lie; the data speaks for itself.

Sales of new homes in the United States soared in November, defying higher mortgage rates. The US Commerce Department said Thursday that new-home sales jumped +17% in November from the previous month. The November 2018 figure remained -7.7% below the November 2017 rate.