Why Is Wood So Expensive? We’ve Got Answers.

The beauty, versatility, and timelessness of wood are apparent almost everywhere, whether you’re walking through an old-growth forest, admiring a historic log cabin, or touring a brand-new home.

But lately, despite its timeless charm, wood has felt less and less accessible. In fact, it’s become quite expensive.

So why has wood become so expensive?

That’s the question this article answers. You’ll learn about:

• The value of wood in today’s market
• Factors that influence wood prices
• How checking wood moisture can help keep your costs low

Let’s start with what makes wood such a valuable material.

The Value of Wood in Today’s Market

Wood has been a constant for humanity as far back as history records, and it remains one of the most valuable building materials today.

It’s versatile. It can be used for everything from furniture and art to flooring and entire buildings.

It’s beautiful. It comes in a wide range of colors, tones, and textures, and it works with many design styles.

It’s long-lasting. With proper care, wood furniture, flooring, and art can last for generations.

And one of the biggest reasons wood remains so valuable is that it’s a renewable resource.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, “Unlike many building materials…wood does not deplete the earth of its natural resources. Because it’s a resource that more or less stands on its own, it can be grown and harvested over and over again.”¹

With responsible forestry practices, we can keep building with and using wood for generations to come.

Now let’s break down the factors that influence wood prices.

Factors That Influence Wood Prices

It’s hard to pin wood’s rising cost on just one or two things. As you read this list, keep in mind that wood prices are usually driven by a mix of these factors rather than just one.

Wood type and quality

This might seem obvious, but wood type and quality involve more than just what kind of wood it is and how good it looks. Classification and grading systems help determine the price of a given piece of wood. The main factors are:

• Hardwoods vs. softwoods
• Exotic and rare woods
• Wood quality and grading systems

Hardwoods vs. softwoods

Hardwoods generally come from deciduous trees, such as oak, hickory, walnut, and poplar. Many grow slowly and produce harder, denser wood.

Softwoods generally come from conifers, such as pine and cedar. They tend to grow faster and usually produce lighter, softer wood.

The type of wood you choose makes a notable difference in price. Hardwoods are generally more expensive than softwoods because they often take longer to grow and they’re more durable and resistant to scratches and dents.

Hardness alone doesn’t set the price, though. True mahogany, for example, often costs more than oak because of its appearance and limited supply, even though it’s actually softer: about 900 lbf on the Janka scale for Honduran mahogany, compared with about 1,220 lbf for red oak.²

Because of the price difference, hardwoods are usually used for smaller-scale projects, like cabinets, flooring, and furniture, rather than framing, which takes much more wood.

Exotic and rare woods

How rare a wood is and where it grows also have a big impact on its price. Exotic woods like tigerwood cost more not just because of their striking colors and grain patterns but also because they can be scarce, slow to grow, and complicated to transport. Many grow in South America, Africa, and Asia.

African blackwood, for example, is one of the most expensive woods in the world. It’s extremely hard and dense, stable, and durable, but it grows slowly and is in limited supply.

For many exotic species, demand is high but supply is low. Some, such as lignum vitae and certain sandalwoods, have been so heavily harvested that international trade in them is now restricted.

Wood quality

Did you know that wood has different grades? A board’s grade affects its price too: the higher the quality, the higher the cost. Hardwoods and softwoods have different grading systems.

Hardwood grades include, from highest to lowest:

• Firsts and Seconds (FAS)
• Selects
• Number 1 Common (No. 1C)
• Number 2A Common (No. 2AC)

These grades are largely based on how much clear, defect-free wood a board can yield and in what size pieces. For example, FAS boards must be at least 6 inches wide and 8 feet long and yield 83⅓% to 100% clear wood.³

FAS lumber is often used for large pieces of furniture or long moldings, or anything else that needs long, defect-free pieces. Lower grades can be used for everything from kitchen cabinets to furniture parts to plank and strip flooring.⁴

Softwood grading works differently. In simplified terms, softwoods are graded on a numbered scale, with the lowest numbers having the fewest defects. Higher grades are used for furniture and appearance work, while lower grades usually become crates, pallets, and other industrial products.⁵

These factors almost always influence the price of wood. But in recent years, global supply and demand have played a big role too.

Surging demand for wood

Let’s go back to Economics 101.

Supply and demand work together to help set the price of a product. When demand is high but supply is low, the product is scarce and the price goes up. When supply is high but demand is low, the price goes down.

That’s a simplification, but it explains a big part of why wood prices jumped.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a good example. According to the USDA Forest Service, during the first year of the pandemic, prices of processed wood products such as softwood lumber and plywood nearly quadrupled, and wholesale plywood prices rose from $400 to $1,500 per thousand square feet.⁶

Why? There were several reasons, but demand certainly surged. During the pandemic, many people spent more time at home, bought homes, and renovated the homes they had.⁷

Homebuilding surged too, adding to the demand for wood. In April 2021, the National Association of Home Builders estimated that the rise in lumber prices had added more than $36,000 to the price of a new single-family home.⁸

Add in all the people renovating and taking on DIY projects at home, and supply simply couldn’t keep up.

Supply chain challenges

Demand wasn’t the only reason wood prices rose. Supply chain challenges also drove prices up, and none of them happened in a vacuum. Each one affected the others, creating a domino effect.

For example, the pandemic triggered a worker shortage in the forest products industry. According to the Forest Service, that shortage “led to limited availability of wood products,” and “the domino effect continued with supply chains further disrupted by a lack of truckers to move materials.”⁹

Lumber prices have since come down from their 2021 peak, but they remain volatile, and other factors will likely continue to affect the price of wood.

Sustainability and responsible forestry

Concern for sustainability has grown in recent years, and for good reason. But while sustainability and responsible forestry are essential, they can make production slower and more expensive.

Here’s why.

Responsible forestry means balancing consumer needs with preserving forests and the ecological balance they support. It also means protecting human rights, endangered species, and biological diversity, and respecting the land and the people who live there.

That requires more planning, finding and accessing responsibly managed forests, and working with reputable companies to oversee the process.¹⁰

And because the goal is to harvest wood with the lowest possible impact, timber yields are often lower. Combined with strict standards, that leads to higher costs.¹¹

Those costs can look even higher compared with illegally harvested lumber. Illegal loggers avoid taxes and required checks, so their prices are low, but the environmental cost is high.

Even though responsibly harvested wood costs more, it’s a worthwhile investment.

Where Moisture Measurement Comes In

When it comes to easing the burden of expensive lumber, a moisture meter can help. How?

Using a moisture meter means:

• More informed purchases
• Fewer project failures
• Less long-term moisture damage

More informed purchases

When you’re buying lumber, a moisture meter is your best ally.

You don’t want to buy wood that’s too wet for your purposes, because having it kiln-dried to your specifications adds to the cost of the project.

Air drying, meanwhile, adds time to the project, which also adds cost.

With a moisture meter like the Orion^® 950, you can measure the moisture content (MC) of the wood before you buy it. That way, you can choose wood with an MC closest to the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of the place where it will be used.

You can also use the Orion 950’s built-in EMC feature. Place the meter in the room where the wood will be used to get an EMC reading for that space.

This saves you time and money and makes every wood purchase a more informed one.

Fewer project failures

Moisture is one of wood’s biggest enemies, and it can quietly lead to project failure. For example, a hardwood floor installed without attention to moisture can buckle, cup, gap, or crown.

Sometimes the damage is too great to fix, and the floor has to be torn out and replaced. That’s time and money down the drain for you and your client.

With a moisture meter, you can make sure the planks are at the proper MC before installation. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and the same goes for furniture, cabinetry, and more.

Less long-term damage

Moisture can cause visible damage quickly, as in the example above, but it can also cause serious damage slowly over time, even from a small leak or from poorly sealed windows and doors.

Along with a moisture meter, a long-term monitoring system like the Floor Sentry^® from Wagner Meters lets you track the temperature and relative humidity in your wood floor and subfloor. That helps you prevent long-term damage and catch problems before they become serious.

Manage Rising Lumber Costs with the Right Moisture Meter

A reliable, accurate pinless moisture meter from Wagner Meters can ease the pain of rising lumber costs.

Whatever is driving those costs, whether economic, environmental, or otherwise, your business can thrive when you buy and use wood wisely, and a moisture meter is your best ally for that.

Learn more about everything the Orion 950 can do for you.

Shop Orion Moisture Meters

1. “Sustainable Building: Why Wood Is Our Most Valuable Resource,” U.S. Green Building Council. [↵]
2. “Honduran Mahogany” and “Red Oak,” The Wood Database. [↵]
3. Ed Edwards. “Lumber Grades Explained,” Thomasnet, 2025. [↵]
4. Ibid. [↵]
5. “A Study Guide to Lumber Grades in Manufacturing,” Conner Industries. [↵]
6. Virginia McDaniel. “Supply and Demand Primer: How the Pandemic Drove Up the Cost of Wood Products,” USDA Forest Service, 2022. [↵]
7. “How the Lumber Industry Misread Covid and Ended Up with a Global Shortage and Sky-High Prices,” NBC News, 2021. [↵]
8. Ibid. [↵]
9. McDaniel, “Supply and Demand Primer,” USDA Forest Service, 2022. [↵]
10. “Sustainable Wood Costs Explained: Why It Cost More and Why It’s Worth It,” Global Wood Source. [↵]
11. Rhett Butler. “Why Sustainably-Managed Eco-Friendly Wood Is More Expensive for Consumers,” Mongabay, 2005. [↵]

Last updated on October 8th, 2026