January 29, 2025 | Warren Shoulberg
Madison’s Lumber Reporter’s year-end review shows a return to less volatile prices, encouraging news for 2025.
The noted source for lumber prices says there is a “sureness” for the new year that should be good news for the construction industry which saw widespread volatility over the past several years. In 2024, lumber prices stayed within a range of $150 per thousand board feet, a much smaller plus-or-minus than the industry previously experienced,
In a recent interview, Keta Kosman, Madison’s publisher, said, “Now that interest rates have started to go back down, and the uncertainty of the U.S. presidential election is resolved, the U.S. home buying consumer is returning to the sense of confidence which was more usual in recent years past.”
The newsletter said prices were $470 per thousand board feet for the week just before Christmas, down 5 percent from the previous week and down 7 percent from November levels. Western Spruce-Pine-Fir 2×4 prices were $435 per million board feet in the week ending Dec. 20, down 6 percent from a month ago. That’s 5 percent higher than a year ago for this benchmark item and 12 percent more than in December of 2022.
“The annual seasonal holiday break loomed large in mid-December, bringing with it the usual slowdown in lumber sales. Prices dropped slightly to reflect weak demand,” Kosman said in the interview. “Most customers had already ordered what they needed for the balance of the year before Thanksgiving.”
Recent data from the Western Wood Products Association said that U.S. lumber production for the first nine months of last year fell 4 percent to 27,504 million board feet compared to the same period the year before. Comparable production in Canada was essentially flat.
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