It was an uneven lumber market for the week ending March 26 as print prices came in all over the place; some up, some down, and many flat. The price of benchmark softwood lumber commodity item Western S-P-F KD 2×4 #2&Btr rose another +$28, or +3%, to US$1,040 mfbm, from $1,012 the previous week. Again…

It was an uneven lumber market for the week ending March 26 as print prices came in all over the place; some up, some down, and many flat. After waffling for a couple of weeks, the good forward indicator — as mentioned in Madison’s previous few updates— of Canadian Softwood Plywood 9.5 mm Toronto, popped…

As suggested by Madison’s in the previous two weeks, benchmark softwood lumber prices did indeed remain flat for the week ending March 19 as customers digested previous orders. However prices of less-usual grades, sizes, and species did increase. Industry players noted that the price spread between #3/Utility grade and standard-grade #2&Btr has closed remarkably; in…

Home prices across the US surged more than +10% in December, indicating a strong demand in the housing market. According to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices, home prices continued the trend of accelerating that began in Summer 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic drove people from urban apartments to buy suburban homes. Softwood Lumber Prices as…

New-home purchases account for about 10% of the market and are calculated when contracts are signed. They are considered a timely barometer of the current real estate market. Sales of new single-family houses in the US for February 2021 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 775,000, according to estimates released jointly by the…

As often mentioned by Madison’s, panel prices — especially Plywood but also OSB — tend to lead movement in construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices. The graph below illustrates the sharp increase in panel prices through 2020 and in 2021 so far: In the week ending March 19, 2021, the price of Canadian Softwood Plywood…

Potentially signalling a plateau in lumber prices, at least for the time being, benchmark softwood lumber commodity items stayed flat again last week while plywood prices lost almost all the gains of the previous week. However, supply remained incredibly tight as customers still had to search around for the specific items they wanted at prices…

Most of North America remained in the grip of truly harsh winter weather last month, so it’s no surprise that February housing starts in the US continued drops seen in January. Compared to February 2020 total residential starts in the US last month fell by -9.3% to a 1.42 million annualized rate, from 1.57 in…

Prices of benchmark softwood lumber items, like standard grade #2&Btr R/L stayed mostly flat for the week of March 5 — particularly on the west side — as customer demand flowed into other items. FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 5 there was quite a pop in #3/Utility grade and #4/Economy prices across all species and…

The US Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported March 3 US and Canadian rail traffic volumes for February 2021. US railroads originated 824,636 carloads in February, down -11%, or 102,972 carloads, from February 2020. US railroads also originated 1,015,995 containers and trailers in February, up +2%, or 18,184 units, from the same month last year.Total…

New-home purchases account for about 10% of the market and are calculated when contracts are signed. They are considered a timely barometer of the current real estate market. At a very unusual time of year, not when folks normally want to be preparing to move, sales of new single-family houses in the US for January…