Posted on 06/07/2021 5:46:51 AM PDT by deport
The price of lumber in the U.S. has tripled during the coronavirus pandemic, adding thousands of dollars to the cost of a new house. Framing lumber was priced at $1,200 per thousand board feet as of late April, a 250% increase from the year-ago period when the price was about $350, according to an analysis from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). For house hunters, that adds an average of nearly $36,000 to the price of a home.
Homeowners, stuck indoors during the pandemic, have recently been buying up lumber to complete renovations or additions on their house, Jannke told Villarreal. Another factor pushing up lumber costs is that more Americans are leaving big cities and buying new homes in the suburbs, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
I live in an old post-WW II home, which is how my neighborhood was built - very quickly after the war . Not large, 1,600 sq. ft.
Homes in my neighborhood in California have hit $1.15 million recently - an old broken down home was sold for $770,000 (in one day) - flippers came in and got over a million dollars for it about six weeks later (after repairs) - it’s back on the market now for $1.5 million and I noticed the “for sale” sign was down yesterday.
My neighbor across the street had to fight off 14 buyers for her home and the home next door was bid up tens of thousands of dollars more than the asking price - the new owners spent six weeks gutting and re-doing the inside of the home.
I might have to steal that line. I do own and with real estate taxes, I’m a renter it would seem.
I was quoted $14,000 for a new (short) driveway that would have cost me a third of that two years ago.
The contractor told me it’s the price of the materials skyrocketing, not the labor.
Renting for many is crazy too.
Up here, my mortgage is under 2k, and that’s a 2000 sq/ft house, with a full basement so probably another 1200 on top of that, and 20 acres with access to thousands around me (cattle graze lease) and beautiful scenery.
In town, you’re paying 1500 for a basement suite if you’re lucky, a house to rent would be around 2500 for less than this one, and lots of apprentices I’ve asked are paying around 1k to rent a room.
There is not low inventory by the way. The plants up in this neck of the woods have oodles.
Ive been told by a friend in the lumber business the real reason is there are a couple of plants that make resin/adhesives that are used to make lumber products that have been shut down because flood or fire not sure which.
Also said boat construction is hampered too because same place makes resin for fiberglass.
I’m glad you look at it like that, many don’t.
Some people I know had their place go way up in value, their eyes swelled up and they sold, and now they can’t buy anything.
It’s way cheaper to build your house out of CMU than wood.
Had my roof replaced last November from an April 2020 hail storm. Same 1% deductible. Contractor and adjuster haggled a bit over certain things, but it ended up over $8500. And every hail storm we have in Texas drives the rates up. The
My homeowners shot up dramatically this year. Called my agent, and got it lowered due to the new roof. Could they do it automatically? No.
We started looking at prices and properties in the area last/fall winter to get an idea of what we should be looking at. That was a mistake. By the time we got down to AL in April to start looking, the market had gone completely berserk. For anything under $250-275K, if you are not prepared to make an offer for well over list price on the day a house comes on the market you will most likely, not get the house.
To compound the issue, the appraiser was apparently using market data from last fall citing the "stable" market and supply/demand balance in his appraisal. He came in well below where we wanted/needed it to be for our loan. He was citing comparable sales/properties from last fall (when my wife and I started looking) and not current market conditions, which really seemed to start their radical upward spike in early to mid March. Fortunately, we, our agent and the listing agent appealed showing him current trends and sales data and he came way up on his appraisal where we needed it to be.
buying a “new” home
***********
Check the price of existing homes as they are impacted as well.
You should just leave it alone.
You’re barking up the wrong tree,
I know, I’m being a sap, bud. /s
A stat that I remember: (In April) The medium price of existing homes increased 20.3% over the previous 12 months.
The below article says 19.1%:
Yeah when we do ours, it will be earth bermed, concrete slab with pex tubing installed for radiant heated floor and dry stacked, surface bonded concrete block with a moisture sealant. Surface bonding is supposed to be 6-7 times as strong as mortared and it’s more of a DYI thing. Since we have woods, I’m half tempted to get a sawmill and make our own lumber for the roof structure. Timber frame of oak would be nice but not as vaulted ceilings.
Transitory
Parging the surface of masonry units gives little strength to a wall. Reinforcement patterns vertically and horizontally with grout encased rebar in cells is your first step. Dry laid is weaker than mortar laid for the second step. Surface parging is mainly used in moisture shedding.
That was the message Obama gave to everyone. F BAMMY!
LOL
I just saw yesterday at Homie Depot a 1/2” grade C plywood 4x8 was $100.47!
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