Why is lumber so expensive right now?An illustrated explainer of the factors driving up the market.

/thehustle.co ^ | 6/11/2021 | Zachary Crockett

[bitt]

see link for more..

[jdsteel]

Hate to do it….have to buy 7 2x4’s today.

[Menehune56]

That was informative, thanks.

[GraceG]

They want to collapse the economy

[blueunicorn6]

They can build new houses with Spotted Owls.

[Organic Panic]

OSB sheets up over 600% in my local store.

[Trump.Deplorable]

Wait there is a shortage on Garden Gnomes?

[Leaning Right]

There’s a shortage of garden gnomes? I think I can explain that. They have organized themselves into an army, and they are now all in my back yard. (I suspect that they are up to no good.)

[orlop9]

You can add chlorine tabs (pool treatment), and probably now now grease to the list.
Curiously, fires took out one of the 3 makers of chlorine tabs in the US, & yesterday one of the major grease plants went up in flames.

[Trump.Deplorable]

The problem is, they can’t

They know that

But will always try

They are like the kid pounding a square peg into a round hole

[Trump.Deplorable]

The problem is, they can’t

They know that

But will always try

They are like the kid pounding a square peg into a round hole

[AndyJackson]

And in none of those other "necessities" is there a futures market where deep pocket speculators can bid up prices hoping to sell to someone who will pay even higher prices, or can bid up prices to squeeze out short sellers who have speculated that price spikes must correct themselves.

And the other neat thing is you get to speculate on all the competing official government actions and which way they will drive prices - [dump supply, ease restriction, dump cash - raising prices - ignore the economy we have to get rid of Trump - more regulation because building for people creates greenhouse gases and cutting trees removes a sink for green house gases. It's a wonderful world. But, at the end of the day it's just commodity, and supply and demand will balance out in the end.

[VastRWCon]

Rumor going around that Gnomes love beer.

[FreedomPoster]

[Gay State Conservative]

I'm certainly no expert here,however:

Over the years I've driven I-91 from northern Vermont...close to the Quebec border...into Massachusetts. On most of those trips south I've seen a number of huge lumber trucks carrying huge trees heading south with me. They all had Quebec plates.

I wonder if border issues connected to the virus has lessened such trips thus contributing to some kind of shortage.

[AndyJackson]

Bidets shortage? - so here I am confined to home because of COVID and I have so much spare time on my hands that I am going to remodel my bathroom and put in that bidet I always wanted.

[Sequoyah101]

Price gouging.

The article is propaganda, excuse making and a lie.

I see plenty of lumber moving on trains and trucks. I see plenty of lumber in lumber yards. I have not yet once in this whole charade not been able to buy the lumber I need and not once have I heard one builder say he was not able to get lumber. I have avoided buying any lumber at all as a matter of principle against price gouging.

What I have heard and seen is that you have to pay through the nose to get lumber.

[Harpotoo]

Why are home prices up by over 100K. Cause the libs are cashing out on their overpriced/overtaxed lib city houses. The only good thing is that after about a year or 2 they can’t stand living among the rest of US!!!

[thescourged1]

Two weekends ago, on an intersection out in the sticks, I had to go around a stopped semi pulling a flatbed with what appeared to be 4 full lifts of 2x4's, with the driver outside and looking at a troublesome wheel.

For a split second, I had contemplated crime. Fortunately, I'm a decent guy and not a thief.

Sad times we're in, that I end up thinking like that.