FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with Henry Schienebeck, Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association; Home sales down 8.3% in August

September 25, 2026

— This week’s podcast is with Henry Schienebeck, executive director of the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association.

The conversation explores the impacts of escalating trade tensions with Canada including new tariffs and how they’re affecting the forestry sector in Wisconsin and elsewhere in the Midwest.

“We’re growing a lot of softwood lumber but we don’t really have a good infrastructure to produce that into lumber, so we’ve had more Canadian lumber coming in,” Schienebeck said. “Actually I think the numbers I’ve heard are around 33% … with the fires and stuff we’ve seen, there’s more of an emphasis being put on rebuilding that infrastructure.”

That’s in addition to efforts to help sawmills “have a more guaranteed supply of raw material” so the industry can use more domestic wood, while seeking to improve forest health.

“To where our forests aren’t overcrowded, and they’re more productive and healthier,” he said.

He also discusses how business leaders in this space are adjusting their approach and seeking new markets to engage with, noting he’s seeing more trade missions to Mexico, Germany and elsewhere.

“We were very dependent on the Chinese market for quite a while, and of course there’s tensions there between China and the U.S. as well,” he said.

Meanwhile, he noted there’s been a “move back toward real hardwood” for cabinet makers.

“So I think that’s a bit of a shift that we’re seeing, and I think people are also starting to understand a little bit better that when you’re using real hardwood, you’re really playing a part in sustainability because those hardwoods store carbon,” he said. “And, you know, carbon sequestration is a major topic right now.”

Schienebeck stressed the importance of preserving and developing domestic forestry resources, noting Wisconsin remains the top papermaking state in the country.

“It’s such a big part of our daily life … I can’t think of another natural resource, really, that has the social, ecological and economic impact that our trees have on our lives daily,” he said.

Listen to the podcast here and see the full list of WisBusiness podcasts.

Check out another recent podcast focused on the state’s paper industry.

— Statewide home sales dropped 8.3% over the year in August as buyers navigate “record-low” affordability, the Wisconsin Realtors Association reports.

The group’s latest report shows 6,571 homes were sold last month in Wisconsin, down from 7,162 in August 2025. The decline reversed a trend of rising sales in June and July, and coincided with “strong upward pressure” on home prices in Wisconsin.

The state’s median home price rose to $362,000 in August, representing a 7.1% increase over the year. Along with rising mortgage rates and slow income growth, this has “pushed affordability to its lowest level” since the group began tracking it in 2009.

WRA President and CEO Tom Larson notes home prices have jumped by more than twice the rate of inflation over the past year, “eroding” affordability along with steadily increasing mortgage rates. The average 30-year fixed mortgage rate rose to 6.67% in August, above the same point last year when it was 6.59%.

“This hits firsttime buyers especially hard since they rely heavily on financing to buy their first home,” Larson wrote in the report. “Hopefully we start seeing rates fall as we move into the off-peak season for home sales.”

Every region of the state saw sales decline in August, with larger drops in the state’s central, northern and western regions, ranging from 11.9% to 14.5%. The southeastern region fell by 9.2% while the northeastern region declined 6.2%. The south central region had a smaller decline with a dip of 0.9% over the same period.

Still, sales growth is still positive on a year-to-date basis, marking a 3.2% increase over the same eight-month period of 2025. Plus, listings are on the rise though still well below the “balanced” six-month benchmark, the report shows. Inventory levels rose slightly in August to 4.4 months of supply.

Dave Clark, an economist and consultant for WRA, notes the monthly inventory measure has “steadily improved” year-over-year since the end of 2022.

“The oldest Baby Boomers are now 80 years old, and the youngest are 62,” he wrote. “As Boomers age, their demand for single-family detached housing will decrease, and this will continue to eventually accelerate the inventory improvement trend seen over the last four years.”

Meanwhile, WHA Board Chair Amy Curler notes it’s “still a strong summer market” for home sales despite August’s weak performance. She notes closings for the peak season of this year are still the strongest since 2022.

“This is true for the May-through-August period as well as the traditional summer period of June through August,” she wrote.

See the release and report.

— U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore and Democratic congressional candidate Mitchell Berman took aim at GOP U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil for the Republican reconciliation package that cut federal healthcare spending.

Berman, an emergency room nurse from Raymond who is challenging Steil for his 1st CD seat, said his facility no longer has an MRI technician available 24/7.

“If you show up to our emergency department and you’re having signs of a stroke, we have a medication we can give you to reverse those symptoms, but we have to have an MRI,” Berman said yesterday during a virtual presser hosted by Protect our Care.

“So now, we have to stabilize you, put you in an ambulance, and send you to another facility. And that delay in care – half an hour, 40 minutes, based on traffic – could be the difference between you ever walking or talking again or surviving.”

He said that position being cut was part of broader cost-cutting as hospitals anticipate an increased number of uninsured and underinsured patients under healthcare cuts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Moore, D-Milwaukee, criticized Steil for cutting others’ healthcare when he “has some of the best healthcare in the country as a member of Congress.”

She cited a state Department of Health Services estimate from June that projected some 63,000 BadgerCare recipients could lose coverage beginning Jan. 1.

That’s because those individuals lack documentation showing they’re complying with new federal work requirements that go into effect next year under the OBBBA.

“These are not just numbers on a spreadsheet. These are our Wisconsin families. These are parents and workers, caregivers, people who need access to a doctor before a health problem becomes a crisis,” Moore said. “And they certainly are not people who are scamming the system.”

When asked for comment on their remarks, Steil said the state began getting an additional $1 billion annually in “record” federal healthcare funding starting in July 2025, following the passage of the reconciliation bill, the state budget and a new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rule he supported.

He argued the bill “strengthened important programs” for recipients they were meant for, including pregnant women, children and people with disabilities.

“After its passage, Wisconsin receives more federal health care funding than it has ever received,” Steil wrote in an email. “Individuals spreading misinformation about this bill’s effects in Wisconsin are either deliberately lying or misinformed. What they are really saying is that they don’t support work requirements for able-bodied childless adults of 20 hours per week.”

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

Sign up here.

— Ahead of last night’s Green Bay Packers game on Prime Video, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison said she’ll “continue to pound the pavement” in support of her For the Fans Act.

The bill would require leagues, such as the NFL or MLB, to provide a free viewing option to local fans and eliminate blackouts for game subscription services.

Baldwin said there’s been a lot of public support for the bill and thinks “the momentum is there” to build up support within the senate.

Baldwin said she’s using the conversation on college sports in the senate to raise awareness among her senate colleagues about her bill. The Senate has been considering the Protect College Sports Act this week, which would create national regulation over NIL laws and athlete eligibility.

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CONSTRUCTION

– Milwaukee launches yearlong plan to shape development along North King Drive

ENVIRONMENT

– Special bag and size limits approved to aid struggling walleye populations in Wisconsin

– A renowned fish; a tribe’s identity. Why sturgeon have such support.

ENTERTAINMENT & THE ARTS