Housing sales are hoisting the prices of lumber | Armonk Real Estate

A slew of shockingly good housing data shook U.S. markets last week, especially lumber. Reports showed that construction of new homes is rising from the post-recession doldrums and that sales of existing homes increased for the fourth straight month.


Lumber, which is closely tied to the construction industry, has been rising with the restrengthening housing market, reaching a five-month high Friday at $355 per thousand board feet. Though still down drastically from the 2004 peak price of $460, lumber has been gaining due to better U.S. housing data and ongoing demand from developing countries, especially China. Although the Chinese import most of their lumber from Russia and Canada, China’s impact on the global market raises local U.S. lumber prices as well.
 

Alongside lumber’s rally, copper prices gained as well, climbing to a 10-day high Friday at $3.21 per pound. Construction of new homes consumes a large volume of the red metal for piping, wiring and appliances.

Next week, there will be even more data for real estate watchers, including the government’s new home sales and a private measure of housing prices, the Case-Shiller 20-city index.

Yields sprout

The widely followed seven-state ProFarmer crop tour confirmed expectations that corn and soybeans are growing very well and are likely to produce bin-busting crops. The tour’s estimates last week predicted corn yields of 164 bushels per acre out of Nebraska, Illinois at 197, and Indiana at 185 bushels per acre — all well above previous estimates.

Data for soybeans, especially in Illinois, hint that record large crop is doing very well, too. Beans are in their pod-setting stage and benefiting from recent rains through much of the Midwest.



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