The Lumber Industry Is Positioned to Capture More Market Share in 2026
The Softwood Lumber Board and its funded programs continued the momentum behind U.S. lumber demand growth in 2025, even amid turbulent economic conditions for multifamily and nonresidential construction. The SLB’s programs supported the conversion of 1,536 projects—representing 62 million square feet of construction—to lumber-based structural systems and generated 1.45 billion board feet of incremental demand in 2025.
This strong performance was the result of disciplined focus and collaboration between the SLB’s four primary funded programs: the American Wood Council, WoodWorks, Think Wood, and SLB Education. These efforts were driven by the SLB’s new “From Niche to Mainstream” strategic plan, which lays out a clear roadmap to 2.9 BBF of incremental annual lumber demand by 2035.
In 2026, SLB is sharpening its focus on what works by focusing on creating, defending, and implementing building codes and standards, amplifying design and construction best practices, inspiring innovation in new performance applications, and providing technical solutions to challenges for specifiers and contractors.
Protecting Lumber Markets Through Building Codes and Standards
The International Code Council’s I-Codes form the basis of building safety codes in all 50 U.S. states, so ensuring the codes remain receptive and favorable to lumber is a major industry priority. The AWC leads this effort for the lumber industry, and it has scored key wins throughout the 2027 I-Code cycle, which is a multiyear process with several rounds of public hearings. The Group A and B hearings saw many favorable results for the industry, including:
● Disapproval of a concrete and masonry industry proposal to reverse the allowance for 100% exposed mass timber ceilings introduced in the 2024 IBC.
● Approval of proposals clarifying an available compliance path for achieving fire-resistance ratings, reducing hardware and labor costs—further strengthening lumber’s value proposition in 4- and 5-story multifamily buildings.
These and other results are important victories for the lumber industry that help ensure wood construction is safe and accessible in the codes. The AWC will see the process through to the finish line in 2026 as the 2027 I-Code Public Comment Hearing is held in April 2026 and consensus voting commences in May.
Expanding Lumber Adoption With Direct Project Support
WoodWorks supports building designers and developers, working directly with design and construction teams to facilitate a shift toward lumber within firms. WoodWorks staff can help project teams expand their understanding of where lumber solutions can be used, minimize the learning curve when trying an unfamiliar design approach, and help overcome hurdles with building authorities. In 2025, WoodWorks directly and indirectly influenced 1,536 projects—66% light-frame, 8% light-frame and mass timber hybrid, and 26% mass timber.
The SLB’s “From Niche to Mainstream” strategic plan identifies multifamily housing as one of the segments with the greatest opportunity for incremental growth, with 1-4 story multifamily projects representing 670 MM BF of incremental demand and 5-8 story projects representing 307 MM BF of opportunity.
One high-opportunity subsegment of this market is senior housing, which offers a rare combination of demographic certainty, structural supply shortfall, and strong alignment with wood construction. Many project teams share a common misperception that senior housing facilities cannot use lumber. Showing how senior housing can utilize different types of lumber-based structures is a core strength of WoodWorks, and the program’s direct project support will help capture additional market share for lumber in the segment, where incremental lumber demand could exceed 1.2 billion board feet per year by 2035.
Think Wood Accelerates Adoption of Lumber-Based Building Systems
Think Wood, the SLB’s communications and content platform, is tailoring its storytelling to accelerate engagement—and conversion—among commercial and multifamily design and construction professionals. Those efforts are paying off: By the end of 2025, 51% of professionals reached ‘high engagement’— up from 45% in 2024. This acceleration matters because 72% of highly engaged users report being more likely to use lumber systems after engaging with Think Wood content.
Some of Think Wood’s most engaging stories in 2025 featured the light-frame Africatown Plaza, a seven-story, 126-unit project attainable housing project, and a story about 42XX Marina del Ray, a 150,000-square-foot mixed-use office complex built with a hybrid mass timber and steel structure. Think Wood’s 2026 content will continue to highlight the building types most likely to move lumber systems to standard practice, driving project-level consideration and specification of lumber.
Educating Tomorrow’s Designers and Builders
SLB Education is advancing wood design and construction education in postsecondary schools—something that competing industries have been doing for decades. The program continued to make inroads with both students and faculty in 2025. The program has now held 12 faculty workshops at institutions nationwide, equipping 300 educators with the knowledge, incentives, and resources to bring lumber-based building systems to the forefront of their classrooms. SLB Education expanded its outreach to include construction management students, launching a mass timber construction-management challenge at an Associated Schools of Construction regional competition, an influential recruiting ground for national contractors.
The program also extended its reach to academic leaders through a workshop for architecture school administrators, engaging with deans, department chairs, and directors responsible for curriculum frameworks, faculty priorities, and accreditation alignment. As a result of the workshop, SLB Education is actively working to remove structural barriers that prevent wood design courses from being included in postsecondary programs.
Focusing on the Opportunity
In a competitive market for construction materials, focus is essential. In 2026, the SLB will continue to prioritize high-opportunity sectors, geographies, and building types where lumber has clear advantages and the path to conversion is shortest. To scale its impact efficiently, the SLB and its programs are integrating AI and advanced digital tools in targeted, practical ways.
WoodWorks is using secure, policy-governed AI platforms to streamline research, draft educational materials, summarize technical resources, and reduce reporting time—allowing staff to devote more hours to direct project support. Think Wood is deploying AI-driven data modeling to optimize paid media allocation, lower acquisition costs, and increase consumption of its materials, while also testing AI-assisted strategies to improve engagement among commercial and multifamily decision-makers. The American Wood Council is integrating AI within its secure IT environment to improve drafting efficiency, strengthen internal workflows, and explore interactive, query-based delivery models for building standards—while protecting intellectual property and ensuring human oversight.
Together, these tools reduce friction, improve precision, and extend program reach—organizing institutional knowledge, accelerating insight, and helping convert more opportunities into measurable lumber demand growth. With the SLB’s strategic investments, the lumber industry is converting opportunity into measurable growth—and positioning wood as the material of choice for the future of construction.
