Returns from U.S. timberland investments have been depressed since the housing market collapse. A decade later, the asset class may finally be poised for a comeback. When the U.S. housing market crashed in 2007, demand for lumber plunged along with it. With fewer houses being built, fewer building materials were needed, and investors in U.S. timberlands — who had up until the financial crisis been seeing near-double-digit gains on their timber holdings — felt the blow of lower returns. …Even as most other asset classes recovered from the crisis, U.S. timber performance remained “well below the historical average,” says Tom Johnson, a managing director at Timberland Investment Resources. But now, he adds, timber may finally be on the cusp of a resurgence.