The newly enacted tax law will create a more favourable tax climate for the business community, which should spur job and economic growth and keep single-family housing production on a gradual upward trajectory in 2018, according to economists speaking at the NAHB International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday. “We expect that tax reform will boost GDP growth to 2.6 per cent in 2018, and this added economic activity will also bode well for housing, although there will be some transition effects in high-tax jurisdictions,” said NAHB chief economist Robert Dietz. …However, builders will continue to deal with ongoing supply-side headwinds this year that will dampen more robust growth. …The ongoing U.S.-Canada softwood lumber trade dispute is further exacerbating the situation, as the price of softwood lumber has increased 20 per cent from a year ago.