The CEO of Saskatoon and Region Home Builders says on top of new houses being built, there are all the renovation projects which got underway because of people being at home during COVID-19 like decks, garages, and fences, which have increased demand for lumber.

Chris Guerette says they have run into a problem because the lumber industry forecast a slight decrease for this year, pre-COVID-19, in terms of the lumber required for the year. In 2018-2019, the Association says Saskatchewan experienced some of the lowest levels of construction activity that had been seen in a decade. However, in 2020 Saskatchewan is experiencing a 67% increase in housing starts combined with the cost of dimensional lumber and sheet products going up 200 to 300%.

Guerette says that means increased cost to build and increased cost to buy or rent.

“We’re hearing, for single family homes, that could be between $5,000 and $10,000 for the price of a home. A particular builder we were just talking to last week had a multi unit project, 72 units….if he wouldn’t have locked in the price of that lumber at the time he did… he would probably be looking at an increase of close to half a million dollars. That’s over $6,000 per unit.”

Guerette says they are in conversation with the lumber association in order to mitigate the impact of the increase in the cost of lumber.