🌏 Priced out

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ByQuartz Staff

PublishedYesterday

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Tariffs are taking their toll. A recent study says tariffs are souring the mood for global exporters, and most U.S. companies say they’re raising prices to deal with the levies.

Home sick

For many Americans, the white picket fence is starting to look like a velvet rope.

Mortgage rates briefly crossed 7% this week following Moody’s U.S. debt downgrade, pushing the average 30-year fixed loan to 6.99%. Combine that with March’s $403,700 median home price, and you’re looking at monthly payments of around $2,661 — and that’s before taxes, insurance, or any maintenance.

That adds up to $32,000 a year in mortgage costs alone — or 43% of the median U.S. household income of $75,000. And that assumes, of course, that you have an $80,000 down payment lying around.

As a result, first-time buyers are getting iced out, existing homeowners aren’t selling, and inventory is tight. The result: high prices, few homes, and rising rates — a three-hit combo locking more and more people out of the market.

One economist called the timing “not ideal,” and social media is filled with “Condolences to your real estate agent” posts. The bottom line? Until wages rise or borrowing costs fall, homeownership will stay less “American dream” and more “unrealistic fantasy” — with utilities not included. Quartz’s Catherine Baab has more on how the American Dream got appraised out.

Out of juice

The auto industry’s foot is off the gas.

Honda just hit the brakes on its EV dreams, slashing its investment into the technology by $21 billion. Blame that on sluggish U.S. demand, shifting emissions rules, and what the company calls an “uncertain” auto environment that has changed “day by day.”

GM is also swerving. It’s scrapping Chevy Tahoe exports to China and hitting pause on other luxe exports. The move guts its high-end Durant Guild export program, which never really got out of first gear — the effort accounted for less than 0.1% of G.M.’s China volume.

If you zoom out, you’ll see that the whole U.S. auto market’s stalling. High-speed charger installations are down 21% year over year; BloombergNEF slashed its charging forecast by 20%. Tesla’s reputation has tanked from “Excellent” to “Poor” in a poll, and its stock has followed suit, shedding over 50% before a recent bounce.

Add in tariffs (25% on auto imports, 30% on Chinese goods, and 10% on U.S. cars entering China) and the GOP’s full-court press against Biden’s EV incentives and you get a market that’s increasingly hostile to auto industry growth. Quartz’s Niamh Rowe has more on why the road ahead is looking rocky.