Home Depot, Lowe's rival files Chapter 11 bankruptcy [View all]

https://www.thestreet.com/retail/home-depot-lowes-rival-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy
"While they have been a moving target, President Donald Trump's tariffs have raised the cost of building a new house.

"The new tariffs could increase builder costs anywhere from $7,500 to $10,000 per home," Rob Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders told CNBC, citing estimates from U.S. homebuilders. Last year, the NAHB estimated that every $1,000 increase in the median price of a new home prices out roughly 106,000 potential buyers.


So far, the biggest impact has been felt in lumber prices, "which are expected to total about $4,900 per home on average, according to Leading Builders of America, the trade group representing most of the nation’s publicly traded homebuilders," the website shared.

While the United States does produce some lumber, about a third of all the wood purchased for homebuilding comes from Canada. Domestic lumber producers generally raise their prices to match import prices.

Rising lumber prices damage the entire home construction industry, and a lack of certainty adds complexity to the home-building process, Steve Martinez, president of Tradewinds General Contracting in Boise, Idaho, shared with the NAHB.

“Our contracts are all fixed price — meaning that from the time we bid a project to the time we start to the time we order the materials, prices could change drastically,” Martinez explained. “But we are trying to preorder as much material as we can.”