Timber Values Stagnant As Lumber Prices Soar By Marlee Moore owering pines line roadways in T Alabama, a state where construction is booming, and lumber prices are
soaring. Meanwhile, timberland owners, whose raw materials are in demand, suffer stagnant timber values. “We supply that wood, and the wood is there, but the price hasn’t gone up for us,” said Elliott Poole, who owns timberland in Sumter and Clarke counties. In the fourth quarter of 2019, Alabama sawtimber averaged $22.84
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a ton. It rose just 69 cents in a year to $23.53. In nearly the same time, low interest rates fueled a building frenzy. From early 2020 to 2021, a thousand board feet of 2-by-4 framing lumber jumped from $370 to $1,155. Oriented strand board (OSB) increased from $255 to $795 per thousand square feet. While headlines in June heralded a 40% plunge in prices, the staggering statistic doesn’t tell the full story, said the Alabama Cooperative Extension System’s Adam Maggard. “I wouldn’t assume that prices will continue to fall for good as seen
in the recent drop in price,” said the forestry and wildlife sciences specialist. “There is no way to know exactly what will happen, but prices could remain volatile and fluctuate in the months ahead. However, we have seen some homeowners deciding to postpone their renovation or new home activities as lumber prices are currently too high.” Demand over the past year has fueled lumber price increases (and sticker shock) for construction companies and homeowners who undertook DIY-renovation projects during the recent pandemic. The alfafarmers.org
