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MReport November 2021

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TH E M R EP O RT | 57 O R I G I NAT I O N S E R V I C I N G DATA G O V E R N M E N T S E C O N DA R Y M A R K E T THE LATEST GOVERNMENT NAHB Urges Biden to Address Home Construction Bottlenecks In a letter to the White House, NAHB Chairman Fowke outlined three major areas of concern for home builders that may negatively impact the overall U.S. economic landscape. T he National Associa- tion of Home Builders (NAHB) has sent a letter to President Joe Biden urging the administration to assist with lumber price fluctuations and disruptions in the supply chain of materials. The NAHB has requested three primary initiatives to be taken by the Biden administration: 1) Increase efforts volatility in the lumber market, which has seen cash prices climb by more than 25% over the past month. 2) Address supply chain bottle- necks for building materials and supplies that are causing signifi- cant delays and are keeping home prices nearly 20% higher than they were year over year. 3) Develop a new softwood lumber agreement with Canada that will end tariffs on lumber shipments into the U.S. "Housing demand remains strong and residential construc- tion is projected to remain at its current pace through 2023," said NAHB Chairman of the Board John C. Fowke in the letter. "For these reasons, NAHB remains committed to doing its part to ensure housing remains a key component of American socio-economic opportunity, creating jobs and ensuring the U.S. economy continues to move forward. However, we cannot do this without your assistance on the continuing lumber and supply chain crises." The NAHB reported that changes in price for softwood lumber products that occurred between April 17, 2020, and July 8, 2021, added $29,833 to the price of an average new single-family home. In early August, U.S. Senators Jerry Moran and Jeanne Shaheen, along with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo met with stakeholders involved in the home building supply chain, including the lumber industry, affordable housing advocates, and the home building industry to discuss supply chain disrup- tions, price volatility, the shortage in availability of homes, and the potential areas for cooperation among stakeholders. "The volatility in the lumber market is pricing hundreds of thousands of potential homebuy- ers out of achieving the American Dream of homeownership," Sen. Moran said. "Supply chain short- ages caused by the pandemic have driven up the price of building and buying homes, and the threat of increasing countervailing duties on certain lumber imports from Canada threaten to exacerbate the situation."

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