The Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index, reported September 24 by S&P Dow Jones Indices, rose at a seasonally adjusted annual growth rate of +3.2% in July 2019, following an increase of +3.4% in June. On a year-over-year basis, the Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price NSA Index rose by +3.3% in July.
See Full Details Here: https://madisonsreport.com/2019/09/26/us-house-prices-july-2019/
Year-over-year home prices in the US continued to gain, but at ever more modest rates,” says Philip Murphy, Managing Director and Global Head of Index Governance at S&P Dow Jones Indices. — Calculated Risk
July 2019 softwood lumber production in Canada decreased by -11.2% from June, to 34,734 thousand cubic metres, from 38,631 thousand cubic metres in the same month last year.
Meanwhile, Canada’s sawmill sales (three biggest provinces; BC, AB, and QC) also dropped in July 2019, by -7.8% from June, to C$5,828 million from C$6,281 million.
US Apartment Vacancy Rate: 3Q 2019
Reis reported September 27 that the US apartment vacancy rate for 3Q 2019 was at 4.7%, unchanged from 4.7% in 2Q, and unchanged from 4.7% in 3Q 2018. The vacancy rate peaked at 8% at the end of 2009, and bottomed at 4.1% in 2016.
Shrewd investors know that construction framing softwood lumber prices are a good leading indicator for US housing activity, including home building and home sales. It is, however US house prices which have the best correlation to the movement and change of wood building materials. Don’t miss out, get lumber price data updates directly to your desktop every Friday morning:
Be ahead of these data releases … Don’t delay, this week’s softwood lumber market comment was published to the website Monday morning.
Madison’s Lumber Prices, weekly, are a good forecast indicator of US home builder’s current lumber buying activity ——> DETAILS
The price of benchmark North American construction framing dimension softwood lumber item, Western Spruce-Pine-Fir KD 2×4 #2&btr, on September 8 matched exactly the same week in 2018, at US$376 mfbm.
Please see graph at the top of this page.
After soaring to record-level highs during the 2018 US home building season, softwood lumber prices slid inexorably downward well into this summer.
