It's been just over a week since President Trump placed tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum importswhich is used heavily in the construction industry.
25 News Bobby Poitevint checked in with local and national experts to see what this means for the Central Texas housing market.
Dr. Anirban Basu is Chief Economist to Associated Builders and Contractors — he took a look back at President Trump's first term in office.
"You might remember in 2018, then President Trump implemented a 25% tariff on steel and a 10% tariff on aluminum, but there's lots of exemptions," Basu said.
"Many were excluded from those tariffs so the impact was not that great."
He says it's a different story now with a lot fewer exemptions on the current tariffs.
"Anybody who purchases construction services will tell you the costs have risen massively since the beginning of the pandemic — just the last five years," Basu said.
"This will make construction that much more expensive to deliver and to purchase — that might mean that certain projects, that would have moved ahead, will not move ahead because financially they no longer make sense."
On top of this, Wednesday the Federal Reserve said it is keeping interest rates at current levels but warned of an uncertain future in the U.S. economy.
Tom Seng Ed. D is Assistant professor of energy finance at the Ralph Lowe Institute at the Neeley School of Business with Texas Christian University.
"In the shorter term over the next several years the tariffs will increase inflation and if inflation continues to increase well then the feds are not gonna lower interest rates, so in the nearer term it's going to stunt economic growth," he said.
Chris Meza is managing partner and realtor with Carbajal Realty in Waco, and he says it's a little too early to see any effects from the tariffs in the area, but industry leaders are paying close attention to what's happening in markets across the nation.
He says if you're looking to buy a home in the area right now...
"Interest rates have held steady below seven percent — if that continues to hold steady at least buyers will know what they're dealing with as they're shopping through the market."
As for sellers looking to put their home on the market...
"I would say go ahead and give it a shot and list your home because we do have active buyers in our market currently."
President Trump remains firm on saying these tariffs are put in place to help encourage U.S. production of goods in hopes of building up our economy instead of foreign markets.
