You could have almost copied and pasted this article from any number of articles in the US. The exact same thing is happening there.

"So we've seen a mini housing boom emerge over the last six months, and that's very much thanks to government stimulus," Mr Pollock said.

The price of steel has also been rising, making it difficult for builders like Luke Eiszele to quote and plan ahead.

I've read quotes in the US press identical to this, and it's directly related to the printing of money. They even sent me thousands of dollars even though I'm living overseas and don't need the cash. But, hey, thanks! I'll sink it into bitcoin. It, ast least, has a capped limit on quantity.

But shortages are also largely due to supply chains getting thrown out of sync by COVID. Shipping got disrupted due to lockdowns and slowdowns, resulting in bottlenecks of shipping containers.

As I now live right on the Tokyo Bay, close to the narrow mouth, I have a front row seat to watch all the ships coming and going. My new hobby is identifying ships by name, type, journey, etc. It's pretty interesting. So when I see this quote:

Turning the reefer containers off allows dry goods such as shoes, electronics, or textiles to be sent to reefer demand locations. Once there, they can be emptied and switched back on to continue their journey.

-- it has much more meaning for me. The main types of ships coming and going are containers, reefers, general cargo, automobile vessels, chemical, and, a biggie, LNG.

Did you know there are ships just for carrying wood chips? Holy shit! I just looked up one of the first ships I catalogued, the Hydrangea. It's now in Hualien!

HYDRANGEA
Wood Chips CarrierWood Chips CarrierIMO: 9888900

This link might work: http://url.cailab.net/c7

Or you can look it up on https://www.marinetraffic.com/