Lumber prices keep dropping

[MushCreek]

In semi-good news (if you're building a cabin/shed/house, lumber prices continue to drop from the spike earlier this year. Since it's a universal component in building, I've been watching 7/16" OSB at the big box stores. The lowest I saw was $5.47, which is pretty cheap. Then it shot up to almost triple, at $14.97! I heard they were blaming it on the earthquake victims buying up so much. It's been dropping steadily, and yesterday it was down to $5.97, only $.50 from where it started. It doesn't seem as though 2X materials were anywhere near that volatile, but they've been following the same trend. I would think the current building slump will serve to hold prices down for some time on building materials.

[suburbancowboy]

Where are you seeing 5.97?  Here in utah 7/16 osb is still 8.47.

[dug]

Over the last 20 years I have noticed that sheathing in particular (plywood, osb, etc.) seems to fluctuate wildly as compared to dimensional lumber. One can speculate as to the reasons but often it seems there is no logical explanation for the pricing of different items.

a bottle of high quality beer is less expensive than the same amount of filtered tap water.   

$5.47 is about the lowest I've seen. I thought I did pretty good @ $6.90 something.

[bayview]

a bottle of high quality beer is less expensive than the same amount of filtered tap water.    

  You must be drinking some high dollar water!    

  Six pack of quality beer is about $7-8.00   Ozarka spring water is about $4.00 per 24 pack of 12oz bottles . . .

/.

[MushCreek]

Both Lowes and HD here in the Tampa/St Pete area were $5.97 on Saturday. This is one of the worst areas in the country for construction, so competition is probably fierce.