Originally published by Construction Dive – August 21, 2020
Updated March 4, 2021 with data from the National Association of Home Builders and the Wall Street Journal.
Dive Brief:
- The price of lumber for rose to $966 per thousand board feet, the Wall Street Journal reported.
- Lumber prices have shot to fresh records, defying the normal winter slowdown in wood-product sales in a sign that the pandemic building boom is bowling into 2021.
- Lumber futures have climbed 49% over the past three weeks, to more than twice the price a year earlier. Lumber for March settled Tuesday at $992.40 per thousand board feet, eclipsing a mark set in September as the highest closing price ever.
Dive Insight:
Several factors have led to the price jump, according to the Wall Street Journal:
- An increase in residential construction including do-it-yourself projects like decks.
- Low mortgage rates that spurred residential construction and remodeling.
- The construction of outdoor seating and dining areas for restaurants across the country.
- Lumber mills that were unprepared for the surge in demand.
Study: Cost of Steel v. Wood
A recent study sponsored by the Steel Framing Industry Association (SFIA), “Costs to Build with Cold-Formed Steel Versus a Wood-Framed Building,” addresses framing costs on behalf of architects, building owners, and general contractors.
While the research was completed before the current spike in wood prices, “Costs to Build” establishes that CFS framing and wood framing costs in mid-rise structures are essentially the same, when construction insurance premiums associated with using the selected material are included.
Of course, the current skyrocketing prices of lumber make CFS framing the clear favorite from a pricing point of view right now.
Therefore, SFIA gathered pricing information and has issued a bulletin associated with the “Costs to Build” report.