Lumber tariffs still bite
- What happened: Tariffs on timber and wood products remain in force, keeping renovation and build costs elevated. - The key specific: A 10% global tariff on timber is active, with other wood-product duties ranging up to 50% on some items. - Context/reaction: U.S. homebuilders say tariffs, plus inflation and geopolitical turmoil, are squeezing margins and could keep consumer prices sticky (reuters.com) (commonslibrary.parliament.uk).
Tariffs on timber and wood products are still feeding into U.S. building costs, leaving homebuilders and renovators to pay more for wood-heavy projects. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) The House of Commons Library says a 10% global tariff on timber took effect on October 14, 2025, and tariffs on some wood products, including furniture, range from 25% to 50%. The National Association of Home Builders said in September 2025 that the United States also imposed a 10% tariff on all timber and lumber imports, with cabinet levies scheduled to reach 50% on January 1, 2026. (commonslibrary.parliament.uk) (nahb.org) U.S. builders say those import taxes are landing on top of already high input costs. The National Association of Home Builders says residential building material prices were still rising at the end of 2025, even as new-home construction slowed. (nahb.org) The pressure is showing up in builder sentiment. The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo said builder confidence for newly built single-family homes fell to 34 in April 2026, while prospective-buyer traffic dropped to 22. (nahb.org) Builders told that April survey that tariffs are already changing their math. Sixty percent said suppliers had raised or announced price increases because of tariffs, and they put the typical cost effect at $10,900 per home. (nahb.org) Wood matters because it runs through more than framing. NAHB says an average new single-family home uses roughly 15,000 board feet of framing lumber, plus more than 2,200 square feet of softwood plywood and more than 6,800 square feet of oriented strand board, or OSB, a common engineered wood panel. (nahb.org) That makes tariff policy hard to isolate from housing inflation, but not easy to ignore. NAHB says the cost of building materials has risen 46.1% since February 2020, compared with 24.7% inflation over the same period. (nahb.org) The industry’s complaint is not only about price levels but about planning. NAHB said in May 2025 that 78% of builders reported difficulty pricing homes because material costs were swinging with stop-and-start tariff policy. (nahb.org) Builders are also watching Canada, which remains central to U.S. lumber supply. NAHB said in April 2025 that Canada accounts for roughly 85% of U.S. softwood lumber imports and nearly a quarter of available U.S. supply. (nahb.org) There is one possible relief valve ahead. NAHB said on April 15, 2026, that U.S. duties on Canadian lumber are expected to drop later this summer when the Commerce Department issues final review results, though the broader wood and timber tariffs remain in place. (nahb.org)
