At a ribbon cutting ceremony held on Friday (7-9-21), the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officially opened the new Eagle Tower Observation Deck in Door County, Wisconsin. Eagle Tower is 60 feet high. The DNR says the tower was built using “new wood technology.” Construction included glulam, which is described as a “stress-rated engineered wood beam.”
Wood Markets News
Canadian Investment in Building Construction Declined 1.9% in May
Statistics Canada (StatsCan) is reporting that investment in building construction modestly slowed in May, declining -1.9% to $19.4 billion (CAD). This was the first drop in building construction since April of 2020. Residential construction investment was down -2.7% to $14.8 billion in May, with declines in both single and multifamily construction.
Commercial and Multifamily Mortgage Delinquencies Hold Steady in June
According to Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) latest monthly CREF Loan Performance Survey, the delinquency rates for mortgages backed by commercial and multifamily properties held steady in June. The MBA developed the survey to better understand the ways the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting commercial mortgage loan performance. The survey reveals that 95.2% of outstanding loan balances were current, unchanged from May.
Weyerhaeuser Company Completes Sale of 145,000 Acres of Timberlands in Washington State to Hampton Resources
Weyerhaeuser Company announced on Thursday (7-8-21) that they have completed the sale, originally announced in April 2021, of 145,000 acres of timberlands in the North Cascades region of Washington state to Hampton Resources for $266 million.
Growth Rate of New Single-Family Home Starts in 2020 Was at Fastest Pace Since 2013
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), with analysis provided by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), new single-family starts expanded at an accelerated pace in 2020. Nationally, 993,635 new single-family units were started in 2020.
Australia’s Building Boom Leads to a Surge in Sawmill Employment
According to analysis provided by the Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA), the COVID-19 pandemic has fueled a building boom in the country, and as a result Australia’s timber framing sawmills have increased employment by almost 25%. This analysis is in stark contrast to reported Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) global trends that suggested that timber processing employment would fall.
Listing of Homes For Sale Increase Just as Home Buying Demand Fades
According to the latest report from Redfin, the Seattle-based, technology-powered real estate brokerage, for the week ending July 4, 2021, the number of newly listed homes for sale surpassed 2019 levels for the first time since the start of the year.
Nova Scotia Forestry Innovation Transition Trust to Invest $6.1 Million in New Center for Forest Innovation
Formed after the closure of the Northern Pulp mill in January 2020, the Forestry Innovation Transition Trust in Nova Scotia announced it will invest $6.1 million (CAD) over four years for the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC) to create a new Centre of Forest Innovation at its Truro, N.S. campus.
Wildfire Season Well Ahead of 2020’s Disastrous Pace in California and Other States and Provinces
A dry winter and early heat waves have the entire State of California is in the grip of drought, much of it classified as extreme or exceptional. So far this year, the number of wildfires and the amount of land burned in bone dry California has greatly exceed totals for the same period in the disastrous wildfire year of 2020. Between 1st January 1, 2021 and July 4, 2021, there have been 4,599 separate fires that have scorched 114.8 square miles.
Moelven Announces $70 million Investment to Upgrade and Increase Capacity at Two Swedish Sawmills
Moelven Industriers ASA has announced that they will be investing more than SEK 600 million ($70 million) in modernizing and increasing capacity at two of their sawmills in the years to come. At the Moelven Edanesågen AB facility, the entire production process from timber sorting, timber intake, will include a new saw line and new dryer that will increase the mills capacity.