Lumber prices are falling back to earth. Futures for July delivery ended Monday at $996.20 per thousand board feet, down 42% from the record of $1,711.20 reached in early May. Futures have declined 14 of the past 15 trading days, the last two by the most allowed by exchange rules. Cash lumber prices are also crashing. Random Lengths said Friday that its framing composite index dropped $122 to $1,324, its biggest ever weekly decline. …Economists and investors have wondered if sky-high prices for wood products would doom the booming housing market. …The rapid decline suggests a bubble that has burst and the question now is how low lumber prices will fall. …Lumber producers and traders expect that prices will remain relatively high due to the strong housing market, but that the supply bottlenecks and frenzied buying that characterized the economy’s reopening and sent prices to multiples of the old all-time highs are winding down. [We respect the copyrights of the source publication – full access may require a subscription]