Lumber Shortage During Covid & Home Building in Lexington KY

Hi, I’m Kim Soper, Realtor at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Cypress in beautiful Lexington, Kentucky. I wanted to hop on here and do a quick video.  I have a background in new construction, many of you guys have been on the journey with me as your partner, as we do build in the Lexington, Kentucky, or Central Kentucky market. So real quick, I wanted just to chat about what is going on in construction in 2020 in Lexington, Kentucky, but also across the country as we're in the midst of COVID-19. Prices have dramatically jumped on new construction. Many of the builders, even in our market, our largest Ball Homes has stopped taking new contracts for buyers that do want to build, because they simply cannot keep up with the market. What is going on is the demand for materials, lumber, HVAC, GFCI, even siding are becoming scarce.

And the reason for that is because I guess maybe for example, the lumber company shut down during COVID or stopped a lot of the production. So there was a lot of people home early this spring, and they decided they needed something to work on. So they sourced a lot of the lumber for home projects, and that created such a shortage in the marketplace for builders. There was an article that just came out and it said that lumber prices over this four-month period, basically from spring until now in September have gone up Four times. And that's the largest just price jumps since 1949 on the lumber during such a short period. I think it's gone up almost 15% just in August 2020 as we've gone on through COVID. So if you're building what's really important is number one, make sure you have a good Realtor on your team that maybe not necessarily isn't representing the builder.

You want your own representation, but to also make sure those prices are hardcore locked in. So I have someone that's building in another state right now and I called them and said, you know, what is the status of your build? Are you guys behind in construction? And sure enough, they were. Just because again, sourcing materials is very challenging for builders right now. And I said, I just want to make sure that your pricing is locked in because I don't represent that person on their build in another state, another Realtor does, but I will be helping that person sell their home in Kentucky once they're ready to go. And I said, I just want you to reach back out to your Realtor and see where you guys are, is your pricing locked in? Is everything good there? A lot of builders have locked in pricing and then some do not. So that is why you really want to make sure you kind of know where you stand right now.

We have a lot of great builders in Central Kentucky when they give you that pricing number, you are locked in. And that's part of the reason Ball Homes, our largest builder in Kentucky, one of the largest in the United States, has stopped taking new contracts because they cannot keep up with the pricing and the demand on materials. They just don't want to quote someone a price right now and then when that house is done Eight to Nine months or a year from now, prices be so different. So just check in with your agent. If you're thinking about building, please don't hesitate to reach out, going through the new construction contracts is very tedious, but it's very important to make sure that you're organized and you have an agent that does have a background in new construction and can make sure that you've locked in those prices with that builder and everything is set in stone, especially as you're building during times like this. Any question? My website is ExploreLexingtonKY.com or Kim Soper (859) 509-8008. Have a good afternoon.

About the Author: Kim Soper is a lifelong Lexington KY resident and Co-Founder of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Cypress. She has over 16 years experience selling real estate all over Lexington KY and the Central KY area.  Kim is the manager/Realtor of ExploreLexingtonKY.com - Home to Your Best Source for Lexington KY Real Estate!