Homebuilders

The Trump administration could announce a pathway for tariff relief on Mexican and Canadian goods covered by North America's free trade agreement as soon as tomorrow, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday.

Tariffs, the employment pool and requirements to tap financing are potential roadblocks that need to be addressed in order to increase new builds.

President Donald Trump said he would plow ahead with new tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Tuesday, a broadside against the two biggest US trading partners that underscores his push to remake global trade.

A Commerce Department investigation will examine whether exporters like Canada, Germany, and Brazil are dumping lumber into US markets at the expense of American economic prosperity and national security, officials said.

Implemented in January, the Biden administration rule addressed flood risk in designated zones, setting building levels that were higher than FEMA standards.

Howard Lutnick's influence in housing today is primarily tied to tariffs but his firm also had a storied past in mortgages and was hit hard by the 9/11 attacks.

Shares of all 18 members in the S&P Composite 1500 Homebuilding Index fell, sending the gauge to the lowest intraday level since December 2023, after results from luxury homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. and key construction data Wednesday indicated the residential real estate market may be in store for more turbulence. 

New residential construction decreased 9.8% to an annualized pace of 1.37 million last month, slipping after a nearly 16% surge in December, according to government data released Wednesday.

Builder confidence had surged following Trump's election win but home financing costs stuck around 7% in recent months have sapped demand and sent builder stocks tumbling.

At the same time builders and lenders report contracting credit on offer, sentiment in the residential construction industry improved in the latter half of 2024.