By Tove Tupper
 
June 29, 2009
 
MEDFORD, Ore. - The price of timber is beginning to rise after months of low prices.
 
The cost of logs and mill studs is picking up in Southern Oregon. It's about $160 per 1,000 board feet. That's above the $140 range from earlier this year. However, the industry is used to seeing prices at nearly $300-per-thousand board feet.
 
"I think what it means right now is that the bottom has been reached," said David Schott with the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Association... "It's ugly. This industry has never seen anything like this. This is the worst its probably ever gonna be."
 
One reason for the rise in prices is new home starts and permits. The city of Medford gave out 25 single family resident permits in May, the most all year. That's up from zero permits in March.
 
"I think a lot of people are interested in capitalizing on the low interest rates, the financing opportunities that are out there right now," Adair Homes Ownership Counselor Lynn Tribon said.
 
Adair says its seen a nearly 30-percent increase in the number of people interested in building, with sales are up about 10-percent from last year.
 
"That activity stems from the first time home buyer to retirees. It's completely across the board as to who's looking for what," Tribon said.
 
It's not all good news for the timber industry though. Nationwide, there were more than two-million housing starts in 2005. This year, it's expected to be at about 500,000.
 
"The next year we'll probably have somewhere in the neighborhood of 700,000 starts, the year after that maybe 850 to 900,000 starts," Schott said.
 
About 50 to 60-percent of timber goes to new construction.
 
Another factor hurting the timber industry is that private timber landowners aren't selling right now because prices are so low.