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Homebuilder costs going through roof; Rising price of nails, lumber, drywall hammering profits.(News)
Crain's Chicago Business, May, 2004 by Tita, Bob
Byline: BOB TITA Surging prices for construction materials threaten housing affordability for an increasing number of working families, a group already pressed by rising mortgage rates. The higher costs-materials account for about 35% of the price of a new home-could pinch homebuilder profits and sap the strength of a sector of the economy that has been a huge producer of jobs nationally and across the Midwest.
Higher prices are due to a rebound among manufacturers, who're able to charge more as excess capacity gets soaked up; to higher oil prices, and to an overseas building boom that is competing for materials. "Our nails are ungodly high,'' says Jim Stelter, general manager of Tri-State Roofing & Siding, a Hickory Hills-based wholesale materials...
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