-
Softwood Lumber Sales Explode on More Major Sawmill Curtailments
After inexplicably wallowing in the doldrums for 2019 so far, North America wholesaler softwood dimension lumber prices reversed spectacularly last week. US housing starts for May, released Tuesday morning, were relatively stable compared to April. Potentially helpful to players seeking understanding of current market conditions, prices quoted for the July contract of softwood lumber futures…
-
CoreLogic US Homeowner Equity Insights: 1Q 2019
According to CoreLogic’s US Home Equity Report, released Monday, only about 4.1% of homeowners with mortgaged properties, which represent about 63% of all US homes, were underwater as of the end of 1Q 2019. In 1Q 2019, the total number of US mortgaged residential properties with negative equity decreased -1% from 4Q 2018 to 2.2 million…
-
Softwood Lumber Supply-and-Demand Corrects On Further Sawmill Curtailments
The latest announcement of major sawmill curtailments Monday, this time with Canfor making production cuts at all its facilities, caused a complete reversal of lumber futures prices on the Chicago Merchantile Exchange. It will be very interesting to see what happens with cash prices this week. Madison’s Lumber Reporter print is Friday mornings; this week…
-
North America Softwood Lumber Production, Sawmill Capacity Utilization, WWPA: March 2019
The latest issue of the Western Wood Products Association’s monthly Lumber Track, for January-March 2019, shows a +0.4% increase in US softwood lumber production volume, to 8,634 mmfbm. January – March softwood lumber production in Canada continued dropping by -8.6%, to 6,382 mmfbm, compared to the first three months of 2018 when it was 6,985…
-
US FHFA House Price Index History vs Softwood Lumber Prices: 2007 – March 2019
The US Home Price Index, released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), rose at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of +1.3% in March, following the +5.3% increase in February. On a year-over-year basis, the FHFA Home Price NSA Index rose by +5% in March. It was the lowest annual growth rate since January 2015, confirming the…
