Once again, experts in the wood products industry are expecting moderate growth in U.S. housing starts for 2017. 

Most industry officials remain modestly optimistic as they track residential real estate and construction markets, the latter of which accounts for more than 80 percent of wood-product sales, including for new housing and remodeling projects.

Joel White, executive officer for the Spokane Home Builders Association, says new housing and remodeling markets in the Spokane area have done well this year. 

“In terms of building permits, the single-family residential market saw a 30 percent growth, and multifamily saw a growth of 60 percent this year,” he says. 

White says the remodeling sector also has been strong, with more people reinvesting in their homes.

 “The industry had optimal conditions for growth this year, but with increasing mortgage and interest rates ahead, I expect we’ll see some leveling off in 2017,” he says. 

White says the multifamily market is popular right now, with a large part of the construction workforce building apartment units and most units renting quickly. 

 “While funding has started to open up and rates are low, qualifying to buy a home can still be a challenge for some, and there are also those who are simply choosing to rent for social reasons,” he says. 

Shawn Church, editor of the Eugene, Ore.-based Random Lengths, a publication that tracks lumber prices and forest-products industry activity, says this year was profitable for the industry, with continued growth in both housing starts and softwood lumber consumption.

 “I would expect nominal growth next year, with some expectation that wood and lumber products prices may be higher because of the current U.S.-Canada softwood trade dispute,” says Church. 

The softwood trade dispute between the two countries has been ongoing for years, with the U.S. claiming the Canadian lumber industry is unfairly subsidized by federal and provincial governments. 

The U.S. considers the arrangement an unfair subsidy, which should be offset by a countervailing duty tariff to bring the price of the commodity back up to market rates. The previous softwood lumber agreement expired in October of 2015, and the two governments are still working to agree whether to renew it.

Church says most analysts are expecting housing starts in the range of 1.2 million to 1.3 million for 2017, with some adding that it might be slightly lower. 

Church says data from the U.S. Department of Commerce estimates this year’s housing starts at 1.17 million through October, close to last year’s projected 1.2 million.

Potlatch Corp., the Spokane-based forest-products company, reported third-quarter net income of $27.6 million, or 68 cents a diluted share, on revenues of $174 million. That compares with earnings of $21.8 million, or 53 cents a share, on revenues of $174.5 million in the third quarter of 2015.

“All three of our business segments contributed to our solid third-quarter results,” Potlatch president and CEO Mike Covey said in the third-quarter report issued at the end of October. 

Potlatch owns approximately 1.6 million acres of timberland in Idaho Alabama, Arkansas, Minnesota, and Mississippi.

Clearwater Paper Corp., the Spokane-based pulp and paper product maker, reported third-quarter net income of $900,000, or 5 cents a diluted share, down from $23.1 million, or $1.21 a share, in the year-earlier quarter. 

Net sales in the company’s consumer products segment were $253.3 million for the latest quarter, up 2.5 percent compared with 2015 third quarter net sales of $247 million. 

The company’s October financial report attributed the revenue increase to market share gains, which resulted in growth of total tissue volume and a richer product mix that included a 7 percent increase in retail tons sold.