Lumber Extends Record Rally With Order Surge Straining Sawmills
- Rally has lifted home costs by nearly $36,000, NAHB says
- Builders face increasingly high material costs in peak season
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Lumber futures extended a record rally as sawmills struggle to meet insatiable demand, with the biggest U.S. producer saying it’s sold out of some key homebuilding materials for the next several weeks.
Prices have quadrupled in the past year, buoyed by an unexpected surge in home building and renovations that caught sawmills off guard with low inventories. Demand has held strong since mid-June, keeping inventories low and costs high. That’s expected to have spurred record earnings for some lumber producers while adding more fuel to surging house prices.