The Softwood Forest Products Buyer - March/April 2024

DELTA CEDAR —Continued from page 47
WASHINGTON REPORT —Continued from page 18
"If mortgage rates fall below 6 [percent] in 2024, more owners will feel comfortable
listing their homes for sale, alleviating some of the shortages, but not
enough to close the supply gap," Maleyev said.
Construction Workforce Shortage Tops 500,000
By Zachary Russell
Delta Forestry Group’s new Raptor Trim Line and 80-bin sorter, at their Halo sawmill,
replaced their green chain, enabling the sawmill to ramp up production.
read every issue online
www.softwoodbuyer.com
Pictured is the new bin sorter building construction at Delta Forestry Group’s Halo
Sawmill.
It isn’t just the president and COO and longtime employees that share in the
hope and optimism of the future of Delta, but new employees such as Rick Harris,
who has spent 30 years in the forest products industry and was just recently
brought on board, that recognizes the future that Delta has. “Delta has a very
successful reputation and brand in and of itself and while the security of the fiber
basket in British Columbia is changing, they are taking on this new landscape and
continuing to grow and expand into different markets and species.”
Delta Forestry Group is a member of BC Wood, North American Wholesale
Lumber Association and Truck Loggers Association.
For more information visit, www.deltaforesterygroup.com. •
of houses for sale, which is generally supportive of prices, along with generally
stable demand that is coming from things like household formation," Roger
Ashworth, senior strategist on the structured credit team at Goldman Sachs, said
this week.
When this story was first reported, new home sales climbed up by 8 percent in
December, according to government data, while prices declined to two-year lows.
The fall in prices and a rise in sales was partly due to builders offering inducements
to buyers, according to Yelena Maleyev, a senior economist at KPMG.
"Builders have pivoted to building smaller homes and offering more discounts
and concessions, such as mortgage rate buydowns, to bring in buyers sidelined
by rising mortgage rates," she said in a note shared with Newsweek.
But the data from the U.S. Census Bureau also showed that inventory of newly
built homes fell last month after going up the previous months. There were
453,000 houses available for sale at the end of December, which accounts for 8.2
months' worth of supply.
This constituted a 3.5 percent decline from the same time a year ago, Maleyev
pointed out.
The lack of inventory also comes at a time when the used homes market has
struggled. Sales are down in that segment amid a lack of supply of homes as
sellers are reluctant to give up their low rates for new home loans hovering in the
mid-6 percent.
This lack of supply will be key to how prices shake out and the outlook for the
year is not encouraging.
(The following article was first published by www.chainstoreage.
com. The Associated Builders and Contractors says its model uses
the historical relationship between inflation-adjusted construction
spending growth, sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Value of
Construction Put in Place Survey, and payroll construction employment,
sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, to convert
anticipated increases in construction outlays into demand for labor
at a rate of approximately 3,550 jobs per billion dollars of additional
spending.)
The construction industry's labor crunch shows no signs of stopping anytime
soon.
The industry will need to attract an estimated 501,000 additional workers on
top of the normal pace of hiring in 2024 to meet the demand for labor, according
to a proprietary model developed by Associated Builders and Contractors.
Looking ahead to 2025, the industry will need to bring in nearly 454,000 new
workers on top of normal hiring to meet construction demand and that’s presuming
that construction spending growth slows significantly next year.
“ABC estimates that the U.S. construction industry needs to attract about a
half million new workers in 2024 to balance supply and demand,” said Michael
Bellaman, ABC president and CEO. “Not addressing the shortage through an
all-of-the-above approach to workforce development will slow improvements
to our shared built environment, worker productivity, living standards and the
places where we heal, learn, play, work and gather.”
The U.S. construction industry unemployment rate averaged 4.6 percent for
the second straight year in 2023, matching the second-lowest level on record,
while job openings remained historically elevated at an average of 377,000 per
month through the first 11 months of 2023. Due to labor shortages, contractors
Continued on page 50
Quit Your Pitching
with our proven system
BUILD THE
WORLD WITH
DURABLE
WOOD
KopCoat Protection Products offers specialty chemical programs and application
products designed to safeguard against biological and weathering damage. Through our
commitment to innovation, we’ve developed cutting-edge technologies that address
the common challenges associated with wood: weathering, rot, and decay.
3040 William Pitt Way | Pittsburgh, PA 15238 | 1.412.227.2426 | kop-coat.com
Prevent resin and pitch buildup by reducing friction when applied with our Lube Master 1000
Spray System. Biolube offers formulations for all species. 100% satisfaction guarantee!
Installs On:
Head Rigs, Line Bars, Edgers, Pallet Saws, Gang Rips, Finger Jointers, & Moulders
New Customer Special:
$100 shipping credit on a Lube Master Spray System. Expires 12-31-24. Mention code SW24.
BIOLUBE
The original innovator in saw lubrication.
www.biolube1.com • 260-414-9633
Page KC-24011 48 SW Buyer Jan 2024 Ad_6.4x9.35-hor.indd 1
Softwood Forest Products Buyer • March/April 12/7/23 8:48 2024 AM
Softwood Forest Products Buyer • March/April 2024 Page 49