Demand For Engineered Wood Products To Grow Through 2020
Engineered wood product output will grow between 25% and 33% by 2020, according to the Fall 2015 Forecast by APA – The Engineered Wood Association. That should bode well for LBM dealers as the housing market continues its gradual recovery.
APA’s 2015-2020 Market Outlook for structural panels and engineered wood products forecasts that demand for North American-made structural panels will increase 21% by 2020, from 31.5 billion square feet to 38 billion, largely in response the increase in housing starts to 1.5 million units by the end of the decade.
APA’s forecast for an uptick in demand for structural panels and engineered wood doesn’t surprise J.D. Saunders, the 2014-2015 chairman of the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) and vice president of Economy Lumber in Campbell, Calif. “We’ve already experienced an increase in demand, and part of that is attributable to the recovery of the housing market,” he says.
In fact, APA’s Market Outlook notes that although the U.S. homeownership rate is expected to trend lower through 2020 as interest rates rise, the improving economy could push household growth as high as 1.3 million per year over the next three to five years.
Several factors are dampening the potential for stronger growth in homebuilding. Young would-be homeowners are delaying marriage as they pay off historically high levels of student debt and their projected incomes are unlikely to keep pace with the rise in mortgage payments as home prices and interest rates rise. In addition, first-time home-buyers continue to struggle to meet strict mortgage lending standards to qualify for home loans. Many of the households they form in the near future are likely to be living in rented apartments, as described in the APA report.
From LBM Journal: lbmjournal.com.
RELATED ARTICLES
2020 APA SAFETY AND HEALTH AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED
APA NAMES NEW DIRECTOR OF QUALITY SERVICES
Latest News
Egger Invests More Than $42 Million In North Carolina
Egger Wood Products has announced the start of production on a third lamination line at its Lexington, N.C. facility. The $21 million investment will expand the company’s thermally fused laminate (TFL) production capacity by 50%, increasing production to more than 155 million sq. ft. per…
Büttner Expands Product Range
As a globally operating supplier of burners as well as drying and energy plants, Büttner—a member of the Siempelkamp Group—is taking the next logical step by establishing a new environmental technology competence center in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and expanding its product range in the field of environmental…
Tolko Plans High Prairie Rebuild
Tolko Industries Ltd. has commissioned Dieffenbacher to supply the core components of a new OSB line at High Prairie, Alberta, Can. On May 20, 2022, a fire in the press building damaged beyond repair a Dieffenbacher 12-opening press, which Tolko had commissioned in 1995, and much of the surrounding…
Carroll Is COO At Swiss Krono
Swiss Krono Group appointed Steve Carroll as its COO and Technical Director for U.S. operations at Barnwell, SC. Carroll comes to Swiss Krono from Arauco North America where he most recently served as director of the Grayling, Mich. operations. He brings to Swiss Krono more than 30 years of experience in…
Find Us On Social
Newsletter
The monthly Panel World Industry Newsletter reaches over 3,000 who represent primary panel production operations.
Subscribe/Renew
Panel World is delivered six times per year to North American and international professionals, who represent primary panel production operations. Subscriptions are FREE to qualified individuals.
Advertise
Complete the online form so we can direct you to the appropriate Sales Representative. Contact us today!