Framing lumber reaches its lowest level in more than a year. The National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) recent study on material costs give insight of the behaviors within the U.S. framing lumber market.
Summary of the week-to-week lumber prices and plywood prices for the week ending on Sept. 19, 2025:
- The framing lumber composite price was down 1.6%(-6.5% YoY).
- The price of lumber futures was up 4.6% (+11.5% YoY).
- The lumber futures price is down 5.4% from a month ago.
- The structural panel composite price was down 0.9% compared to the previous week.
- OSB prices were down 0.4%.
- Western Fir plywood prices were unchanged.
- Southern Yellow Pine (SYP) plywood prices were down 1.3%.
Despite the current favorable lumber pricing, the industry experiences fluctuating prices due to increased demand, rising tariffs, supply-chain bottlenecks and insufficient domestic production.
Prices must fall for long enough periods of time to sufficiently lower a supplier’s average costs after a run-up. Depending on the rate and consistency of price decreases and whether prices have stabilized at the lower level, it may take at least a few weeks to a couple of months for builders to see price relief on the order initially reported in the lumber futures or cash markets. Analyzed by Jesse Wade, NAHB director of tax and trade policy analysis.
