Lumber crash leads to 'blowout' sales as prices crater

Homeowners who resisted the urge to renovate during the first 18 months of the pandemic may find now is their chance, as lumber prices that soared to dizzying heights in the spring have crashed back down to earth.

At family-run Peacock Lumber in Oshawa, Ont., owner Glen Peacock said retail prices have "collapsed" in recent weeks. An eight-foot-long, two-by-four inch piece of framing lumber that cost $12.65 on June 1 is now selling for $3.95, Peacock said — basically what it would have sold for before the boom.

"It was amazing it went as long as it did before people said, 'This is too much money,' " Peacock said. "People who waited, if they could, to do their projects are going to be in a much better position."

A pandemic-driven surge in home renovations and do-it-yourself projects sent shock waves through the home improvement and construction industries earlier this year. North American lumber prices hit record highs of more than $1,600 US per thousand board feet in May — three times higher than pre-pandemic levels.

The price roller-coaster had customers pre-ordering lumber months in advance to ensure supply and even resulted in a spate of opportunistic thefts from construction sites across North America.

But the ride has come back down even faster than it went up — and that means many retailers have been stuck trying to get rid of product they purchased at higher prices.

"With lumber prices falling as fast as they did, it forced everybody to sell their overpriced inventory at a loss," said Joel Seibert, owner of Mountain View Building Materials just outside of Calgary. "What would have been the ideal situation would be for the price to take twice as long to come back down as it did to go up."