Tariffs and the effect on housing market

Yahoo

05-04-2025

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — Tariffs have the potential of affecting the price of wide variety of things, including homes.
As of now interest rates for home buyers are the lowest, we've seen them since October of 2024 with a 1% decrease. The average mortgage loan from lenders is around 6.5%, but if you're planning on building a home, the upfront cost could be a lot more.
'Rising tariffs, has triggered volatility in the stock market,' Misty Stenmark, a home buying specialist with Heather Murphy Real Estate group, said. 'So that means that investors are going to shift their money into bonds as a safer option. The increased demand for bonds drives down yields and that ultimately results in lower interest rates, which is what we're seeing now. We have the lowest interest rates currently that we've seen since October of last year.'
Tariffs against countries around the world will start to take place on April 5 and April 9. The good news for home buyers is the decrease in interest rates from lenders.
'Lower interest rates and higher inventory means now's a great time to buy,' Stenmark said. 'If you're in a position to buy. So even with some economic uncertainty, savannah remains resilient. We're fortunate and that we have major growth in manufacturing and logistics, and that ultimately keeps our housing market steady.'
If you're custom building a home, Misty said materials such as Canadian softwood lumber, steel, aluminum and equipment components for HVAC and other appliances could be impacted. She said most builders are charging around $300 dollars per square foot, an increase from the low 200s they were seeing.
'Lately, custom building is a little more expensive than buying a home that already exists,' Stenmark said.
Misty said it's very unlikely that we will have a major housing market crash like in 2008 due to the demand here in Savannah.
'Do not expect a housing market like the 2008,' Stenmark said. 'You know, ultimately the demand is there. And with demand that's going to drive up the prices, and so we don't expect prices to decline to the extent that some people do. In fact, they've risen in on average of four and a half percent, and so the experts expect that to continue.'
We reached out to the Georgia Ports to see if they had anything to say about the incoming tariffs and this was their statement:
'We are closely monitoring the ongoing tariff discussions and related developments. Yesterday, we released our March container numbers, which showed record volumes in the port of Savannah. Next week, we will release our port of Brunswick numbers for the month of March.'
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