Re: Fact 7

Everett WA

Description

So anybody that voted for Trump is a turd. Name calling is so childish in my opinion. Remember the reaction when Hillary Clinton called Trump supporters a basket of deplorables? Prices are rising for just about everything. Blaming it on Joe Biden is wrong unless you think the low employment is all his fault. It will be up to Biden to get people back to work. Only now the lumber mills are starting to get back up and running. The cost of lumber is going through the roof, and that is hitting the housing industry on all fronts. For homebuilders, renovation contractors and DIYers, the cost of projects is now far higher than it was just a year ago and about to cross into historic territory. Softwood lumber prices are now about 112% higher than they were a year ago and have jumped 10% in just the past week, according to Random Lengths. Increased demand for single-family housing, much of it driven by the coronavirus pandemic, has housing starts up 30% year over year, according to the U.S. Census. That is part of the issue on the demand side. There has also been a surge in home remodeling, as people sit at home longer and put money they would have spent on going out or traveling into their houses and properties. Low interest rates are also playing into lumber prices, heating demand for housing and giving builders more incentive to increase production. “It’s also worth noting, that durable goods are continuing to increase, as individuals are buying large appliances and furniture. This is also helping increase lumber prices because a lot of these items are shipped on wooden pallets,” said Joe Sanderson, managing director of natural resources at Domain Timber Advisors, an Atlanta-based timberland investment management organization. But it’s not just demand that is pushing prices so high. Supply is completely off the mark because both mill operators and lumber dealers misread the 2020 market. Since housing starts and remodeling were weaker in 2019, they pulled back on production. The expectation was that 2020 would be much of the same. “Covid hits and they get really really scared. You saw construction curtailments across the board,” said Paul Jannke, principal at Forest Economic Advisors. Then came the totally unexpected boom. Housing turned out to be one of the brightest spots in the economic recovery, with demand coming back swiftly. The trouble was that the pandemic also made it harder to produce. Some mills have had to limit shift work in order to comply with social distancing rules. In addition, lumber dealers didn’t exactly believe demand would stay as strong as it was after last summer, Jannke said, so they let their inventory drop to record low levels in the fall.