Housing industry worried about tariffs, next several months will be critical

photo: Building Industry Association of the RRV

FARGO (KFGO) – The housing industry is worried about the tariffs imposed by President Trump.

“I think there’s concern because we don’t know,” said Bill Rothman, past president of the Building Industry Association of the Red River Valley, formerly known as the Homebuilders Association of Fargo-Moorhead. “When you don’t know, there’s always uncertainty.”

Rothman expects major goods like lumber, plastics, and metals will be affected.

“What’s going to affect things in the homebuilding part (is) people buying appliances,” Rothman said. “What we deal in multi-family – we have to buy all the appliances for all our projects. We know there’s going to be some kind of impact. We just don’t know how much that impact is.”

Rothman said single and multi-family home projects that are already underway will likely not be affected by rising material costs, but projects that are only in the planning stage will be.

“It’s the new projects that I think are going to be affected,” Rothman said. “Stuff that’s on the drawing board, where people haven’t pulled permits, that don’t have that locked in, that’s where you’re going to see – if the costs do get out of hand – people stop and pause from doing new projects.”

Rothman said the next four to six months will be critical.

One positive Rothman sees is a recent drop in some key interest rates and he’s hoping for additional reductions in mortgage rates.

Last year, single-family home construction in the greater Fargo-Moorhead area was up 8% over 2023 while apartment and other multi-family projects dropped by 58%.

The association represents builders and contractors in Fargo-Moorhead and the surrounding area.