Current U.S. housing starts are reasonably good, about 1.4 million annually. Housing starts are an indicator of softwood lumber demand for construction, and hardwood lumber for furniture and finishing. However, these positive factors are being neutralized by the oversupply of softwood lumber. Daniels said all these factors impact hardwood products as well. There tends to be a six month lag time behind housing starts before these hardwood demands show up.
Dry weather makes harvest easier and keeps plenty of timber logs on the market.
It will be a while until supplies back off enough to help prices significantly. We may see the normal rally in prices as winter arrives, but not as much as usual. Recommendations on this web site do not endorse any commercial products or trade names.