Following a few months of moderating prices last spring and summer, lumber prices are soaring once again, disrupting the housing market and harming housing affordability, NAHB says.
Over the past four months, lumber prices have nearly tripled, causing the price of an average new single-family home to increase by more than $18,600, according to National Association of Home Builders standard estimates of lumber used to build the average home. This lumber price hike has also added nearly $7,300 to the market value of the average new multifamily home, which translates into households paying $67 a month more to rent a new apartment.
According to Random Lengths, as of Dec. 29, the price of framing lumber topped $1,000 per thousand board feet — a 167% increase since late August.
NAHB calculated these average home price increases based on the softwood lumber that goes into the average new home, as captured in the Builder Practices Survey conducted by Home Innovation Research Labs. Included is any softwood used in structural framing (including beams, joists, headers, rafters and trusses), sheathing, flooring and underlayment, interior wall and ceiling finishing, cabinets, doors, windows, roofing, siding, soffit and fascia, and exterior features such as garages, porches, decks, railing, fences and landscape walls.
See more at NAHB’s NAHBNow blog.
