How tariff turmoil is affecting housing and construction in MA

The stock market surged and the S&P 500 posted the biggest gain since 2008 after President Donald Trump announced a pause on most of his announced tariffs.

The pause comes after a tumultuous week on Wall Street after Trump proclaimed April 2 "Liberation Day" and announced sweeping tariffs on goods imported from other countries.

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The construction and real estate sectors in Massachusetts are feeling the effects of the turbulence.

"Speaking to just a lender yesterday, 80% of his business has put a pause on buying real estate right now, because their down payments are not liquid," said Kristin Hilberg of Keller Williams Realty Boston Northwest. "They're in the stock market, they were counting on dividends or counting on 401ks."

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President Donald Trump on Wednesday discussed his reason for putting a 90-day pause on tariffs for countries that did not retaliate against the U.S.

General contractors told us they stocked up ahead of the reciprocal tariffs, which will be imposed at 10% for other countries — and at 125% for China.

"What it really affects us is trying to sign up new work," said John Anderson with Plumb House Inc. "Investors are very uncertain right now, and they're unwilling to actually sign contracts to move projects forward, because they don't know what its going to cost them."

Right now, it's a watch-and-wait situation for both builders and homebuyers.

"Tariff, chaos, affecting the stock market, until we see how that levels off — if people are going to panic buy, then pull back — and then hopefully we're going to get back to some sort of a normalcy," Williams said.