There is a lumber yard.
Carolyn Cole is a photographer.
The price of lumber has doubled over the past month as recent floods in Canada limited shipments, but demand remains strong with US homebuilders still busy.
Since November 15, when prices began to climb, lumber futures have soared 95 percent. On Monday, they reached $1,044 per thousand board feet, compared with $540 in November. The surge in lumber prices in May caused prices to go above $1,700.
The floods in British Columbia caused a temporary halt in lumber exports, which has caused prices to move up in recent weeks. According to the BC Lumber Trade Council, Canada's westernmost province exports 50% of its lumber production to the US.
Canadian National Railway was able to restart rail services in December after they were halted because of the floods.
The Commerce Department said last week that housing starts in the US increased by 11.8% in November to a rate of 1.68 million homes. The number of total units under construction continues to increase at a rapid pace, despite the fact that housing starts have been stuck in a sideways channel.
This suggests that existing projects are taking longer to complete because of labor and product shortages. Aneta Markowska and Thomas Simons wrote that there was no sign that the bottlenecks were easing.
Many parts of the US have had warm weather in December, but construction activity may slow as the US enters the winter season.
Business Insider has an original article.
