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Softwood Lumber Prices Slowly Recover from Recent Lows: May 2019
Some wholesaler (net FOB sawmill) standard construction framing dimension softwood lumber prices rebounded slightly last week from recent lows, while most prices remained flat from the end of April. While reasonable amounts of wood are being traded, demand could hardly be regarded as lush. Sellers, whether producers or secondary suppliers, had plenty of lumber commodity…
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US Construction Employment & Construction Spending: March 2019
Total nonfarm payroll employment in the US increased by 263,000 in April, while the unemployment rate declined to 3.6%. Residential construction employment increased by 600 in April, after the increase of 11,200 jobs in March. The total construction industry (both residential and nonresidential) gained 33,000 jobs in April. Additionally, the latest monthly employment data released…
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US House Prices, Home Sales: Feb & Mar 2019
The Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index, reported by S&P Dow Jones Indices, rose at a seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of 3.8% in February, following the increase of 3.2% in January. On a year-over-year basis, the Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index rose by 4% in February, down from 4.2% in January. It was the…
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US Construction Employment Rebounds: March 2019
Data from the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) released Tuesday indicate that construction job openings increased in March, consistent with the ongoing challenge of the availability of labor for builders, said the US National Association of Home Builders. The estimated number of job openings in the construction sector increased to 360,000, a post-Great Recession…
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Softwood Lumber Hearings, Washington, DC: Update
At a hearing on Tuesday by a trade panel under Chapter 19 of the North American free-trade agreement, lawyers for the Canadian industry and federal government said U.S. lumber producers were doing just fine before the tariffs came down – and certainly did not need any protection from Canadian competition, according to Globe and Mail…
