Lumber Prices Up Over 250%

Did you know that our country imports 80% of our lumber from Canada? We do and lumber prices last year soared from April 1st when they were $259 per thousand boards and they hit a high last year of $950 per thousand boards. That’s an increase of 267% in 4 months last year. Currently lumber prices are at $982 per thousand boards. According to the National Association of Home Builders the lumber package cost for an average-sized home increased by $15k last year.

And prices for other homebuilding materials like aluminum, steel, drywall, and copper prices have increased as much as 25%. Plus, the extra demand has caused skilled labor prices to rise substantially too. Thus, the NAHB reports that home building projects will creep to a halt at times and thus building a new home will take much longer. I expect it will take many home builders over 12 months to build a new home in metro Denver.

And I am hearing from many of you that home builders are raising their home prices every week by as much as $10k a week. Second, I have heard that some builders have quit accepting new contracts in some communities as they are so far behind.

So, the idea of abandoning the crazy resale market for a new home may not be such an easy decision as builders are overrun by demand too.