By Materials News Is it harder to buy a house in America? Building materials go up first!

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According to the investigation report released by the National Association of Building Builders (NAHB) on April 15th, after the White House announced the tariff list and gave some products a 90-day grace period, although timber imported from Canada and Mexico was exempted, American builders have obviously felt the pressure of rising construction costs. According to the report, the average cost of building materials for an ordinary single-family new house is about $174.155, of which imported building materials account for about 7.3%, about $12.713. On the surface, this proportion is not high, but Sun Sitao found that the report shows that some building materials suppliers have taken the lead in raising prices in advance due to the uncertainty of tariff policies. Specifically, according to the data in the report, building materials suppliers are either based on the tariffs already imposed or expected to impose tariffs, and the prices have increased by 5.5% on average; The price of suppliers in the house decoration and renovation industry rose even higher, reaching 6.9%. Even if most of the tariffs have not officially landed, this phenomenon of "first rising for respect" is enough to reduce the profit margin of real estate developers and push up the final price of new houses. The heat of housing construction in the United States has shown signs of cooling recently. According to another statistical data released by NAHB on April 15th, the cumulative number of new single-family housing permits issued in the first two months of 2025 was only 147.119, down 5.2% compared with the same period in 2024. Multi-family residential permits also decreased by 6.7% year-on-year to 72.979. In terms of regional distribution, the number of permits issued for single-family houses has shown a downward trend in the four major regions: the northeast, the central and western regions, and the west, with a decrease of 0.1%, 3.0% and 4.5% respectively, with the most obvious decrease of 6.3% in the south. As the hot spots of traditional architecture, the southern and western parts of China, this round of decline reflects the cautious attitude of developers towards the future market. State-level data further reveal the differentiation of this trend. As the leader of new housing construction in the United States, Texas issued a total of 24.960 single-family housing permits in the first two months of 2025. Although the total amount still ranked first in the United States, it decreased by 5.6% year-on-year. Florida and North Carolina also decreased by 8.3% and 4.5% respectively. It is worth mentioning that multi-family housing has increased against the trend in some central and western States. In the first two months of 2025, the number of multi-family residential permits in Iowa increased by 177.4%, from 354 last year to 982. However, the number of multi-family housing permits in California dropped by 21.7%, and Arizona dropped by 67.5%. The American real estate market is also influenced by the capital market. According to the data of Mortgage News Daily, as of April 11, the interest rate of 30-year fixed-rate mortgage in the United States jumped by 13 basis points to 7.1%, the highest point since February. "This has been an extremely bad bond market week, probably the most intense week since 1981," said Matthew Graham, chief operating officer of Mortgage News Daily. He said that the yield of 10-year US bonds jumped sharply, which made the mortgage interest rate rise. Sun Sitao pointed out that the US mortgage interest rate is usually highly correlated with the yield of 10-year US Treasury bonds. At the same time, consumer inflation expectations in the United States soared to 6.7% in April, the highest level since 1981, further undermining market confidence. The consumer confidence index dropped significantly, reflecting American families' worries about the future economy. In such a big environment, the interest rate of American mortgage has soared, and consumers are increasingly worried about the job market. Sun Sitao suggested that we should pay close attention to the real estate data released in the next few months and observe whether the US real estate market will be dragged down in the future. Although the White House is still adjusting its tariff policy, the concern of the American real estate industry about the market prospect can not be ignored. The market survey jointly released by NAHB and Westlake Royal Remodeling shows that all the workers in the decoration industry are attacked by policy uncertainty, rising construction costs and declining consumer confidence. Sun Sitao believes that for the real estate market, this "unclear future" macro environment is often more lethal than the tariff itself.