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Stories Tagged as

Lumber

Adventures in Housing

Inside the mind of a Sears House hunter

by Maria Hollenhorst
Sep 9, 2024
Judith Chabot devotes much of her free time to searching for houses built from kits sold by Sears. “It’s kind of like bird-watching,” she said.
Sears catalogs have been replaced by Zillow listings for house hunters.
Internet Archive 2024
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Lumber is cheap, but building or renovating a home isn’t

by Mitchell Hartman
Jul 1, 2024
The price of lumber has plummeted since early in the pandemic, but other building materials are up 30% from 2019.
Lumber prices have fallen, but other home construction materials have not followed suit.
Tim Boyle/Getty Images
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Tough housing market is pushing this lumber business to diversify

by Kai Ryssdal and Anais Amin
Nov 7, 2022
Sawmill Timberdoodle Farm has been investing in new equipment and looking into providing services along with its products, its co-owner says.
"Our business is pretty linked to new housing starts at the moment. And that hasn't been as robust as it has in the last two years," says Katrina Amaral, co-owner of Timberdoodle Farm. Above, a retail lumber outlet in California.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
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What cheaper lumber means for the housing market

by Meghan McCarty Carino
Sep 27, 2022
Lumber is about as cheap as it was before the pandemic, a sign of the slowing housing market. But savings are offset by rising financing costs.
Even though lumber prices have eased, financing for builders and buyers has become costlier.
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
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Small sawmill sees growth amid surging demand for lumber

by Kai Ryssdal and Minju Park
Jun 10, 2021
Katrina Amaral of Timberdoodle has seen more interest in custom orders. And the spike in lumber prices has improved her pricing power.
"In the sawmill world, we're probably more like a small organic farm that does wholesale to restaurants," says Katrina Amaral, co-owner of Timberdoodle Farm in New Hampshire.
Courtesy Katrina Amaral
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What part of a new house costs 4 times as much as a year ago? Lumber!

by Sabri Ben-Achour
Apr 19, 2021
Demand for new U.S. homes is at a record high, and existing homes are old and need repairs.
Lumber prices had risen for a while before the pandemic spurred a renovation trend and boosted prices further.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
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Housing starts pick up — prices too

by Nancy Marshall-Genzer
Aug 18, 2020
Lumber prices are surging, along with prices of Chinese-made components that go into building a home.
A construction worker roofing a New York residence in May. Housing starts were up more than 22% in July.
Al Bello/Getty Images
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Lumber prices climb as people stuck at home build those gazebos they've been putting off

by Andy Uhler
Jul 10, 2020
The price of lumber is at a 2½ year high, driven by a sawmill slowdown and more interest in home projects.
Timber on the dock of a New Zealand port in February. Demand for lumber hasn't slowed, but production has.
Phil Yeo/Getty Images
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Home Depot blames lumber prices for drop in sales

by Amy Scott
Aug 20, 2019
The company says that a better price for lumber is better for business.
A customer's lumber sits on a cart at a Home Depot store on in 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. The company cited lumber price deflation as a reason it trimmed its outlook for 2019.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
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Lumber trade dispute and tariffs boost U.S. wood products

by Esther Honig
Sep 20, 2018
Prices for U.S. softwood lumber have jumped since tariffs against Canadian lumber took effect last year.
A machine piles pine logs for processing at the Montrose Forest Products sawmill.
Esther Honig/Harvest Public Media
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