Commodities traders are factoring in the "home price forecast 2025" as an indirect driver for lumber contracts. Rising home values correlate to increased construction starts, which historically push lumber futures higher. It is getting difficult to find attractive places to invest. As I write this, the S&P 500 , Nasdaq Composite , and Dow Jones Industrial Average all trade within a few percentage points of their all-time highs, and to put it mildly, the valuations of some of the most popular stocks in the market look a little frothy. NAR’s existing-home sales numbers fell year-over-year in May, but only by 0.7 percent. Last year saw many buyers staying on the sidelines , anticipating lower mortgage rates, and despite earlier hopes from economists, it appears that is not changing yet. “Home sales have been at 75 percent of normal or pre-pandemic activity for the past three years, even with seven million jobs added to the economy,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun in a statement. “Pent-up housing demand continues to grow, though not realized. Any meaningful decline in mortgage rates will help release this demand.” This fuels analyst upgrades for home construction stocks.