Summer 2023 | No. 157
Throughout the second quarter, most factors seemed to point towards continued declines in stumpage prices, quotas for loggers, and a depressed housing market. But late in the quarter, news came out that housing starts in May shot up to 1.6 million annualized units, the highest rate since April 2022. This was followed by a climb in lumber prices. And suddenly there was hope again! Hope that the downturn, which started hitting hard in the fourth quarter of 2022, might have bottomed out and we might have begun the recovery. It’ll take a few months of positive numbers to establish a trend, but I couldn’t ignore the positive signs that showed up at the end of this quarter.