Inflation.

What’s the theory of why the increase?

Increase in labor, food, transportation,weather, taxes, heat, and stuff like that.

The three hurricanes that hit Louisiana last year destroyed the plants that produce the glue for the plywood so now it is in short supply. That is the story I heard

Both Lowe's and Home Depot are setting record sales. The virus has people staying at home, getting things fixed, or n some cases "busted" needing to be fixed. Simple supply and demand.

There is not one reason why the prices are so high but this guy explains where all of the extra cash is going pretty well.
He shows financial info at the end.

I listen to a financial show on the weekends that said some of their clients have land with trees meant to be harvested for lumber.

The land owners are getting paid to leave the trees and the companies paying them are generating carbon credits to sell on the carbon trading market.

I read that it has to do with a lot of folks being stuck at home during the pandemic and deciding to remodel their homes, along with the new construction boom. Their may be some supply side constraints also, but demand seems to be on the high side at the moment.

It's not only in Texas. My daughter lives in Georgia. She is also feeling the sting

The news said earlier that the average price of a home is up. $ 35,000 from a year ago, due to lumber prices. Crazy world now days.

$60 OSB, $11 studs, adds up quick..

And they're saying to check your homeowners insurance for replacement cost as you may be underinsured.

Strange, I was told there’s plenty of wood but social distancing regs at the mills means only 1/2 the normal workload of employees can work at any given time. More Covid effects?

Prices are going to stay crazy until the 4th Qtr when significant production comes back online. In MN we have one mill close to the border, that used to hire Canadian Indians from a reservation just the other side of the borde, that can't higher enough workers to add a third shift because the border's closed. We have an OSB mill being updated that will not be back online until summer then it'll take a few months to ramp up. It's the same story across the country. Mills that are being brought back online are updated first which takes 6 to 18 months while the gap between demand and production grows.

That’s makes much more sense. Thank you.

FIFY

I was fortunate enough to spend a considerable amount of my youth in Mexico. Learned Spanish and paid very close attention to their home construction process.

Building a home out of cinder block could be a real possibility.

Insulated concrete form has always interested me. Might make more sense cost wise now. Used to be a good bit higher than wood framing.

This is so stupid, and that’s why they think it will work. Idiocracy achieved!

Read up on sandbag home construction. Sand bags filled with dirt and then stucco applied to both sides Another one is burlap cement built over a wire form. Then top it off with a latex cement freeform roof. None are as simple as they sound, but innovative ideas that have been proven in the Third World.