You'd think this was a great time to build a home. New construction is almost non-existent and remodeling is just so-so. Prices for materials are falling like a rock. NOT!
Okay that part is understandable. More than normal demand, so prices react.
Well, how about lumber prices? No, not down; UP! As the guy at the wholesale flooring distributor explained... prices started falling so tree suppliers stopped cutting them... sawmills worked through their inventories and then when they tried to get loans to buy more the banks turned them down because the banks weren't lending. Flooring manufacturers worked through their inventories of raw lumber and then had fewer sawmill suppliers for their new needs. Meanwhile, exporting nations started clamping down on cutting forests in response to U.S. environmentalists, so the cost of imported lumber has gone up.Bottom line: flooring prices are up about 50% this year and demand is down. Put that in your Econ 101 and smoke it.