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Canada Housing Starts: Oct 2020
The trend in Canadian housing starts was 222,734 units in October 2020, up from 214,372 units in September 2020, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) Tuesday. This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts. Canadian housing starts rose +3% in October compared with the…
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Softwood Lumber Prices Mixed Bag
As market conditions stabilized, some North American construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices fell further, others were flat, and still others actually rose somewhat. After a few weeks of seeming free-fall, most lumber prices stabilized last week as the supply-demand balance corrected nicely. Suppliers in Canada and the US saw more orders coming in as…
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US Home Prices: 3Q 2020
Every metro area in the United States tracked by the US National Association of Realtors® during 3Q 2020 saw home prices increase from a year ago, according to NAR’s latest quarterly report, released Thursday. Single-family existing home prices rose in all measured metro areas in 3Q 2020. 65% of metro areas had double-digit price gains. The…
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US Construction Spending: Sept 2020
In keeping with unusually high softwood lumber prices for the season and a seemingly-unstoppable US real estate market, the latest US construction spending data provides further insight. Total Construction: Total US construction spending during September 2020 was estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of US$1,414 billion, basically flat compared to the revised August estimate…
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As Supply Meets Demand Softwood Lumber Prices Correct Further
North American construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices did correct down a bit more last week, however demand remained quite strong for the time of year while supply was still quite constrained. Customers called around to sawmills and secondary suppliers, at wholesalers and reloads, in search of the wood they needed for ongoing projects. Producers…
