• TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    Cost of materials and demand for contractors. Even if you DIY it, everything is 3x as expensive as it was before covid. The price of lumber never really went back to where it was before covid. Its clearly price gouging.

    • tal@lemmy.today
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      1 month ago

      The price of lumber never really went back to where it was before covid.

      https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/lumber

      The price in at the start of 2020 was ~$377.55 per thousand board feet.

      https://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm

      $377.55 in January 2020 is $460.34 in July 2024 dollars.

      The price of lumber in July 2024 was $423.27.

      So it’s gotten back down to and fallen below pre-COVID-19 prices in real terms.

      It does look like the price has risen from July 2024 to November 2024, so it’s presently higher, but it has not stayed above pre-COVID prices since the end of COVID-19.