Following National Association of Realtor August 2022 data showing existing home sales down 0.4% from July to August and a whopping 19.9% from August 2021 to August 2022, lumber prices slid by over seven percent to a price not seen since a year ago. Lumber has fallen approximately 70% since March 2022. A price drop below $440 per one-thousand board feet from today’s $460 would take lumber down to pricing last extant in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, copper resumed its decline after a bit of strength in early September. Copper closed just below $3.50, down from a high of $4.87 in March 2022. Slowing construction and recession fears world-wide have tamed investor interest in copper and most metals.
Declining costs for essential construction components like lumber and copper may help offset somewhat the continuing increase in home prices and rising mortgage interest rates.
