As President Donald Trump continues his push for tougher immigration enforcement and higher tariffs, Americans are increasingly split on how it will affect home prices, a survey from real estate firm Redfin found.
In the survey, 51% of respondents agreed when asked if they thought that less immigration would lead to fewer construction workers and more expensive homes. These views are not uniform, though, with about 39% of Americans saying they believed that less immigration would actually bring down home prices by reducing demand.
Americans are more aligned on the effects of tariffs. In the survey, 68% of respondents said they believe that tariffs will lead to inflation and high interest rates, while only 35% agreed with the statement that “tariffs will help boost the US economy so more people can afford homes.” More than two-fifths of respondents believed tariffs will hurt home values.
Americans were divided by political party in both cases, with Democrats more likely to see lower immigration and higher tariffs leading to higher home prices.
Both issues will lead to higher housing costs this year, said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin. Tariffs create uncertainty, she said, which will likely keep the Federal Reserve from dropping interest rates, suppressing home construction and making homes more expensive in the near-term.
“The higher interest rates means that builders have to pay more money to finance their projects, so that impacts their bottom line,” she said. “It also impacts the ability of homebuyers to buy new construction or just homes in general.”
The administration’s harder line on immigration could push up home prices, said Melissa Cohn, regional vice president at William Raveis Mortgage. A large percentage of construction workers are undocumented, and if President Trump is successful in his plans for nationwide mass deportations, it could leave the construction industry without the cheap labor many builders depend on.
“If you lose 20% of your workforce, you’ll have to pay more for the remaining 80% to come work for you,” Cohn said.
The survey comes as Americans are increasingly concerned about costs, both with housing and more broadly. Another survey from Redfin in April found that more than half of Americans are either delaying or cancelling a major purchase this year for fear of tariffs, with home sale cancellations spiking to near-record highs.
A separate report from First American Financial Corporation found that the average monthly cost of owning a home has increased 17% since 2020, putting a strain on both current homeowners and those looking to buy. The pressure, the report said, is coming from all angles, including high mortgage rates, increased construction costs, and rising property taxes and insurance.
Tariffs will add to this strain by pushing up materials costs for homebuilders, said Sam Williamson, a senior economist at First American who authored the report. He points to a survey by the National Association of Home Builders showing that building supplies have already gone up an average of 6.3%, adding as much as $10,900 to the building cost of an average new home, something the NAHB has been warning about for months.
“While some builders may try to absorb these increases in the short term, persistent tariffs will likely force them to pass costs on to buyers, pushing home prices higher and worsening affordability challenges,” Williamson said.
Any policies that push up prices would throw a wrench into a market that has recently been shifting slightly in the favor of buyers. Home prices have cooled throughout the West and South, and home prices have fallen in 11 major markets, a report from Redfin last month found. Results from Fannie Mae’s second quarter Home Price Expectations Survey predicted an average home price growth of 2.9% in 2025, a drop from 3.4% predicted in the first quarter.
