Prices of Raw Materials Rising

By Gan Matthews, NEWS 9

NORMAN, Oklahoma -- Everywhere you look the price of raw materials is on the rise. And you don't have to look very far in Oklahoma.

You can't build a house without lumber and lumber products, and together they make up the major cost of a new home. And lately the price for both has been going up.

Three years ago almost two million new homes were built in the United States. This year only about 600,000 new homes were built. Some blame the poor economy, but blame also must be placed on the rise in the price of wood since March.

"So, during that time period we've seen a lot of manufactures either go out of business or cut staff and really got lean and mean," Norman home builder Curtis McCarty said.

And it's not just domestic suppliers. The recent earthquake in Haiti also destroyed wood suppliers there.

Tire stores are dealing with higher rubber prices too, about a 12 percent rise since January. Part of the blame lies with tariffs the U.S. has placed on tires from China.

"If you're out of work you don't want to spend that much money and import tires are the cheapest way to go," Garrett Janko with Tire Shop, INC. said.

Janko's customers are either buying used tires or trying to stretch more miles out of their old tires. Tire stores are eating costs and tariffs.

Home builders are being more cautious in planning new developments.

Also up this year are prices for iron and copper.