For a look at just how extreme America’s shortage of lumber has become, consider this: For the first time in recent memory, a lumberyard was the one selling wood to a supplier. This kind of trade is virtually unheard of. In a normal world, wholesale distributors buy lumber from sawmills and sell that to the yards that homebuilders frequent. But lumber markets today are anything but normal: Futures have surged by more than 60% to record levels this year as the entire timber supply chain collapses under the weight of soaring demand from people renovating their homes and ...