TORONTO, Ontario -- Spurred by historically high lumber and wood panels product prices, Canfor, CanWel, Interfor, Norbord and West Fraser each achieved record-high 52-week average stock prices Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The surge in enhanced stock performance follows moves taken by each of the publicly-traded wood product companies to increase production following weeks of varying degrees of curtailment due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

After a mostly sluggish second quarter, home building in Canada perked up in June even though increased wood product prices are having a significant impact on construction costs. Home builders in Calgary, Alberta, for example report that higher wood material costs are adding up to $10,000 to the cost of building a home.

Random Lengths reported that the prices of western SPF (spruce-pine-fir) lumber jumped nearly 6 percent or $45 U.S. between Aug. 14 and Aug. 18 to a record $805 per thousand board feet. In a similar vein the price of oriented strand board rose 2.5 percent to $620 per thousand square feet over the same four-day period.

Paul Quinn of RBC Capital Markets said current market conditions should continue for the foreseeable future.

"While we recognize that current prices are partially attributable to tight inventory levels through the supply chain, we expect that record repair and remodel demand, rebounding new residential construction activity, and COVID-19 related supply challenges will be enough to keep wood product prices at still historically strong prices through the next few months," Quinn said.

In the accompanying video Quinn discusses the impact of rising lumber prices on housing stock markets.