Lumber prices After popping up by a sizeable degree in the first full work week of 2021, last week benchmark softwood lumber and panel prices corrected downward to more sustainable levels as demand continued strong but supply was able to serve a burst of orders. This year, sawmills across Canada and the U.S. are well poised to produce ample lumber volumes for white-hot construction activity across the continent. Indeed, Canadian and U.S. housing starts and home sales data for full-year 2020 showed extremely robust real estate markets, which are not going to slow down through this year, and possibly through 2022. One important metric to note is that the largest demographic entering the first-time home buyer cohort is millennials. This suggests sustained, longer-term high demand for home sales. Strong home sales inevitably leads to high rates of home construction, which of course means building materials — specifically lumber — will continue to sell well for quite some time to come.
The view going forward is that ongoing demand for real building projects will keep lumber prices high. Whether they will surpass the record-levels of last year remains to be seen.
https://www.woodbusiness.ca/benchmark-softwood-lumber-prices-correct-downward-significantly/