US lumber prices fall at the start of the year as demand remains subdued

US lumber futures fell below $530 per thousand board feet on January 6, testing their lowest levels since October 2024, as subdued near-term demand continued to clash with abundant and increasingly resilient supply across North America. The decline reflects ongoing weakness in residential construction and repair activity in the United States, where elevated borrowing costs continue to weigh on housing-related wood consumption. Homebuilding remains constrained, with housing starts softening and 30-year mortgage rates entering the new year largely unchanged in the mid-6% range, limiting both new construction and discretionary renovation spending. Against this backdrop ...