“We think this $100 run that we’ve seen so far, that we’re not done yet,” Paul Jannke, a lumber analyst for Forest Economic Advisors, said in a statement. “We do think over the next few years, on average, that prices are going to come off, but they are going to remain high relative to history.”
Read more: How falling lumber prices impact US home buyers
Since peaking at $1,711.20 on May 10, lumber prices are down a staggering 74%. The bursting lumber bubble wiped out all of its 2021 gains and has prompted fears of runaway inflation. However, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said that the late-season uptick in lumber prices was the result of supply chain bottlenecks.
“Over the next few months, there will still be a lot of supply chain issues, and dealers don’t want to get caught with low supplies,” Russ Taylor, a Vancouver wood market consultant, told the WSJ. “We’re going to see very volatile prices.”