Katrina hangover still boosting board prices

摘要

US The hurricanes that battered the Gulf Coast and Florida devastated communities and left tens of thousands of people homeless.Now consumers everywhere are likely to feel the impact of the storms in the form of rising prices for construction and building materials.Many of those materials already were going up in price,but within six months,prices might be much worse.Materials account for about a third of the cost of a new home,the increase will have to be absorbed,most likely by consumers.'Prices are creeping up on all fronts,' said Paul Winans,president of Winans Construction,a contractor in Oakland,Calif.,which has added 15% to its bids during the past year to reflect a sharp increase in wholesale prices for materials.