Material Prices Slide Amid Unsteady Market
With the global third-quarter forecast for softwood lumber unchanged from the second-quarter forecast, it is expected to fall 4.1% by the end of the year with an additional 28% drop in 2023.
According to Engineering News-Record, “the construction sector has turned into a tale of two worlds. First, the nonresidential sector has been a solid performer as manufacturing, public works and data center construction have flourished. Conversely, single-family construction has continued to trend sharply lower as rising mortgage rates have led to worsening affordability,” says Richard Branch, chief economist at Dodge Construction Network. “The question, though, is how the entire construction sector will react to still higher interest rates over the coming quarters as the Federal Reserve continues its inflation battle with aggressive rate hikes?”
