Housing Permits & Starts
The latest info from the Census Bureau shows that privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 606,000 and this was apx. 11.5 percent below the revised March rate of 685,000, but is apx. 15.9 percent above the revised April 2009 figure of 523,000. Single-family authorizations in April were at a rate of 484,000; this is 10.7 percent below the revised March figure of 542,000. Privately-owned housing starts in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 672,000. This is 5.8 percent above the revised March estimate of 635 000 and is 40 9 percent above the revised April 2009 rate of 477 000
Canadian Softwood Lumber Tariff to Stop Temporarily June 1
Under the Softwood Lumber Agreement signed with the U.S. in 2006, softwood lumber taxes are tied to the average price of lumber. Stated simply, when the price goes up, the tax rate comes down. For BC softwood lumber producers this means the tax they pay to ship their product to the U.S. is disappearing on June 1. However, lumber future prices are down and so this situation may change.
