Lumber prices pushing up housing costs Lumber prices pushing up housing costs By Kailey Schuyler | March 16, 2021 at 6:57 AM CDT - Updated March 16 at 6:57 AM HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) -Housing in Huntsville is harder and harder to come by, and if youâre thinking about building on your own, be ready for sticker shock. Get this, a 2,000 square foot house will cost $24,000 more to build today than it did one year ago, just from rising lumber prices alone. Barry Oxley at the Huntsville Madison County Builders Association says that lumber prices are up 140 percent, and this is just a complex problem all around the board.