Central Ohio is still experiencing a housing crisis and proposed tariffs may make the situation worse.
The Building Industry Association of Central Ohio says that central Ohio is lagging behind necessary building rates for new homes.
“We should be building between 17,000 and 19,000 homes per year and unfortunately, we have continued to fall short of those numbers which compound annually,” said Jon Melchi, executive director of the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio. “And this past year, we built a little more than 10,000 homes, so we're looking at a 7,000 to 8,500 home deficit.”
Melchi says that the current home deficit is due in part to zoning restrictions.
“The biggest challenges that we have are finding communities that will quite simply allow residential development to occur in a way that is meaningful,” Melchi said. “Challenges with infrastructure, water (and) sewer issues have prevented housing creation throughout central Ohio.”
New housing in central Ohio is also more expensive than in similar markets. The housing market research firm Zonda says that the median closing price for a newly built home in Columbus reached $497,450. This is more expensive than other cities in the country like Nashville, which had a median closing price of $419,945, and Indianapolis, which had a median closing price of $375,000.
Nashville and Indianapolis are also building more homes annually.
“What that means is fewer people can buy homes and we're in a low inventory market,” Melchi said. “And it has increased housing costs for new homes and existing homes.”
Melchi also says that central Ohio’s housing deficit is affecting potential homeowners at every level. “Right now we're not building enough at any price point,” he said. “It’s crucial to us moving forward, to make housing affordability and housing creation a focal point of economic development. Central Ohio is bringing jobs here.”
Possible tariffs could also impact home prices. In 2023, the U.S. imported around 28 million cubic meters of lumber from Canada, which was nearly 70% of all U.S. lumber imports. This lumber was mainly used to build residential and commercial spaces.
“Estimates are it could increase the cost somewhere between $7,500 to $10,000 a home,” Melchi said about the proposed tariffs. “In this region, for every $1,000 the price of a home goes up, about 1,000 people are priced out, so you know it could have a significant impact.”
On Thursday, President Trump suspended tariffs against Canada and Mexico. However, uncertainty still remains.
“When you go back to previous tariff talks and you go through COVID and the supply chain issues that we had during that period of time and through today, unfortunately, our industry has gotten very good at uncertainty,” Melchi said.
Construction companies in central Ohio have found it difficult to plan for changes. Because of lower building rates, companies have chosen not to stockpile materials that could become more expensive.
“Last month, tariffs were going to go into effect and then by 3 o'clock they were not, right?” Melchi said. “So I think people are simply going to put their heads down, keep aware of what's going on and adjust prices and prepare for cost increases as need be.”
