U.S. real estate agents worry trade war will drag down property market
發佈日期: 2025-06-04 20:01
TVB News
Concern is growing that the threat of a global trade war may drag down the American housing market.
Some local developers have expressed concerns, while others believe U.S. tariff policies have created a scenario conducive to purchasing property.
Anders Fung, president of a real estate development venture in the San Francisco Bay Area, said the U.S. trade war led to a surge in construction costs, resulting in a halt in new development projects.
He said most of the lumber needed for building houses was imported from Canada.
As a consequence of the tariff rate on Canadian goods, he noted that a piece of lumber now sells for 12 dollars compared to 10 dollars before the tariff hike, causing a 10 to 20 percent rise in construction cost.
Given that U.S. mortgage rates are still considered high, he said many buyers would remain prudent and delay their purchase.
He added that many enterprises recently initiated layoffs because of the downward demand in consumption.
Holding a different point of view was Jan Zheng, a real estate agent in the San Francisco Bay Area, who said the property market here was not as bad as portrayed by outsiders.
She noted there was at least one transaction every two weeks in the property market.
She said owing to recent fluctuation in the stock market, many investors would rather buy a property to avoid risks.
She added that the asset value could go up while stock may dramatically slump just because of a comment by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump made his name as a real estate tycoon and suffered a number of bankruptcies.
Many local developers are taking a cautious approach, eager to see if Trump can make the property market great again.
