This from the WSJ Logistic Report’s Paul Page:
Lumber prices have tumbled into building season, a sign that residential construction and home-improvement markets are buckling under high borrowing costs.
The price of two-by-fours, which skyrocketed during the pandemic, is a reliable leading indicator for the housing market. Lately it is flashing caution.
Lumber futures shed 3% Friday to end at $452.50 per thousand board feet, down 27% since mid-March. Wood has piled up in the market and pushed cash prices even lower. […]
High borrowing costs have made it more expensive for Americans to borrow against the higher value of their homes, which is a major source of funding for big repairs and renovations.
“You have a lot of producers that are operating below cash flow break-even,” Weyerhaeuser CEO Devin Stockfish said at the New York investor conference. “People will do that for some period of time, but they won’t do it indefinitely.”
