Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Soaring Lumber Costs Push New Home Prices Up. Local Sellers Play Guessing Game.
TLBBHMAP3-U010ALB5ANM-348f959abae2-512-300x300-1
By Jim Jakobs, Digital Producer
Published 5 years ago on
September 26, 2020

Share

Lumber prices have skyrocketed since mid-April, rising 130% and increasing the cost of a single-family home by more than $16,000 according to the National Association of Homebuilders.

Jeff Klearman, portfolio manager at GraniteShares, a New York-based exchange-traded fund provider, told International Business Times that lumber prices have been rising primarily due to increased housing demand which has resulted in increased lumber demand.

“Demand for new homes has strongly increased due to a number of factors, including COVID-19 related relocation from urban to suburban areas, historically low mortgage rates and existing low inventory levels of new homes,” Klearman said. “Demand for lumber also increased as result of damage due to recent hurricane-related weather and wildfires along the west coast.”

The high costs are impacting Fresno lumber providers who are trying to play a guessing game about what prices will be like once lumber is available. Housing demand is also pushing prices up as the supply is less than half of normal right now in Fresno County.

Fresno Lumber Suppliers

“We deal mainly with cedar and redwood products here. There’s been a steady but only slight increase (in prices). The fir market has just skyrocketed,” said John Eliason, co-owner of Fresno’s Eliason Lumber.

Jeff Perritte one of the owners of White Pine Lumber Distributors in northwest Fresno says he’s doing what he has to do to stay in business. “My prices have more than doubled,” Perritte tells GV Wire℠  over the phone. “Prices since March and April have gone up every week.”

Perritte says one of the major lumber mills on the Oregon coast has been cut off by wildfire. His broker tells him the mill has 350 loads just sitting there waiting for the roads to reopen again before they can be shipped. In the meantime, there’s no room to cut and stand wood so the mill is essentially at a standstill. But Perritte says he needs to keep lumber on hand no matter what because that’s what his buyers expect. “If I don’t have lumber, they’ll go somewhere else that does,” says Perritte.

“Here’s the scary part for a lumber company,” explains Perritte. “If I buy the lumber at these high prices now, and all of a sudden there’s a sharp drop in price I’ll have to take a loss on it.”

Home Prices Going Up

Don Scordino, President of the Fresno Association of Realtors says he’s only somewhat familiar with the lumber price issue. He’s sure of one thing, “That would be one of many things that are causing prices to go up.”

Scordino says there just aren’t enough homes being built to keep up with the demand. “Of your existing homes there’s only a little over 1,000 in Fresno County that are active. A normal market would be 2,000-2,500,” said Scordino, a realtor himself.

“I had a house for sale last week in northwest Fresno. In two days we had 6 offers.”

Scordino adds that for years California has had overregulated building policies. “There’s just not enough new homes being built to meet the demand of all the qualified buyers,” said Scordino.

DON'T MISS

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

DON'T MISS

California Just Blew Its First Deadline for Voter-Approved Healthcare Measure

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Halts Dozens of Research Grants at Princeton University

DON'T MISS

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

DON'T MISS

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

DON'T MISS

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

DON'T MISS

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

DON'T MISS

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

DON'T MISS

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

DON'T MISS

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

UP NEXT

California Just Blew Its First Deadline for Voter-Approved Healthcare Measure

UP NEXT

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

UP NEXT

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

UP NEXT

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

UP NEXT

Three Missing Fresno Teens Found Safe After Nine Days

UP NEXT

Lakers Hold Off Rockets With 6 3-Pointers Apiece From Dorian Finney-Smith, Gabe Vincent

UP NEXT

Athletics Bat Boy Stewart Thalblum Takes Down Drone in Left Field

UP NEXT

NFL Postpones Tush Push Decision but Passes Other Rule Changes, AP Source Says

UP NEXT

March Madness: It’s South Carolina vs. Texas and UCLA vs. UConn in Women’s Final Four

UP NEXT

Kings County Authorities Recover Stolen Tractor. Suspect Faces Prop 36 Penalty

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

14 hours ago

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

15 hours ago

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

15 hours ago

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

15 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

16 hours ago

Auto Sales Surged in Anticipation of Trump’s Tariffs

16 hours ago

Raid Or Rumor? Reports Of Immigrations Sweeps Are Warping Life In CA’s Central Valley

16 hours ago

House Speaker Johnson Fails to Squash a Proxy Voting Effort From New Moms in Congress

16 hours ago

UN Agency Closes Its Remaining Gaza Bakeries as Food Supplies Dwindle Under Israeli Blockade

17 hours ago

Hooters Goes Bust and Files for Bankruptcy Protection

17 hours ago

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

Elon Musk has reclaimed his position as the world’s wealthiest individual, according to Forbes’ 39th annual World’s Billio...

11 hours ago

11 hours ago

Elon Musk Reclaims Top Spot on Forbes’ Billionaires List

13 hours ago

California Just Blew Its First Deadline for Voter-Approved Healthcare Measure

Nassau Hall at Princeton University is in Princeton, N.J., Oct. 8, 2024. (AP File)
13 hours ago

Trump Administration Halts Dozens of Research Grants at Princeton University

After 31 years of service, Fresno County Sheriff’s Deputy IV and Pilot Michael Sill is retiring, having logged over 10,000 flight hours.
14 hours ago

Fresno County Sheriff’s Pilot Takes His Last Flight as He Retires After 31 Years of Service

Khalid Ahmad holds a poster of his 17-year-old son, Waleed, who died in an Israeli prison, that reads in Arabic, "The hero prisoner Martyr, mercy and eternity for our righteous Martyrs," in the West Bank town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP/Nasser Nasser)
15 hours ago

A Palestinian From the West Bank Is First Detainee Under 18 to Die in Israeli Prison, Officials Say

15 hours ago

How Safe Is It to Walk to School? Fresno County Wants to Find Out

15 hours ago

Baseball Is Back! How to Listen to Your MLB Favorites and the Grizzlies

Vehicles at an Audi showroom in Miami, March 29, 2025. President Donald Trump has said that tariffs would encourage auto companies and their suppliers to move to the U.S. (Saul Martinez/The New York Times)
16 hours ago

Trump Says He’s Settled on a Tariff Plan That Is Set to Take Effect Wednesday

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend