As Fortune has previously explained, this historic lumber shortage was spurred by a perfect storm of factors set off during the pandemic. When COVID-19 broke out in spring 2020, sawmills cut production and unloaded inventory in fears of a looming housing crash. The crash didn't happen—instead, the opposite occurred.

Are lumber prices expected to drop in 2021?

The building commodity is down more than 18% in 2021, headed for the first negative first half since 2015. At their peak on May 7, lumber prices hit an all-time high of $1,670.50 per thousand board feet on a closing basis, which was more than six times higher than their pandemic low in April 2020.

Why are lumber prices coming down?

An increase in supply and lumber yards slowly returning to normal operations is likely to have caused the decrease in price. While the price is still not at its pre-pandemic level, the change is still significant and gives homeowners an opportunity to do remodeling or home improvement projects before fall.