Lumber prices are slipping to levels seen four months ago as soaring inflation curbs the appeal of do-it-yourself renovators to take on costly new home-improvement projects.

“The DIY sector is eroding because inflation is up,” Russ Taylor, a market consultant at Vancouver-based Russ Taylor Global, said. “Buyers are just walking away and saying, ‘I’m not going to pay that kind of price.’ ”

Lumber futures fell as much as 8.4 per cent to, all figures US dollars, $870 a 1,000 board feet in Chicago on Monday, extending a slump to about 30 per cent since the start of March. The contract, which briefly slipped below $850 last week, is hovering around levels experienced in early December.

The DIY sector is the largest lumber market segment, accounting for about 40 per cent of consumption, according to Taylor. Big box retailers such as Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Cos. represent half of the segment, with the rest coming from smaller retailers and contractor yards. Taylor expects lumber prices to fall below $600 before a slight recovery in May when supply and demand become more balanced.

Home construction and DIY projects often provide a springtime boost for North American wood prices, such as last May when lumber hit record highs during a homebuilding boom before collapsing as high prices stifled demand and sawmills ramped up production. Lumber has been volatile throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with a recent peak in March fuelled by lingering supply and shipment woes from last year’s floods in B.C., a key producing region.

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