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By Lou Hirsh | CoStar News | March 24, 2025 | 12:36 P.M.

Hyundai plans $20 billion US investment

Hyundai plans about $20 billion in U.S. investments over the next four years, including $5.8 billion to build a steel plant in Louisiana, as the South Korean automaker joins other international firms announcing significant production on-shoring efforts this year.

During a Monday White House news briefing that included President Trump, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and Hyundai executives, officials said a planned steel plant near Baton Rouge would employ about 1,500 to produce steel for existing U.S. Hyundai and Kia auto plants to make electric vehicles. Construction on the steel plant, which Hyundai officials said would also sell materials to other U.S. automakers, is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2026.

Hyundai’s CEO of U.S. operations based in Southern California, José Muñoz, previously said that localizing production in the U.S. was being considered to navigate potentially costly tariffs on imported steel and other key materials used by automakers. The Trump administration as of Monday was still slated to impose reciprocal tariffs April 2 on an array of goods from multiple trading partners worldwide, as part of efforts to increase domestic manufacturing.

Earlier this year, several firms announced plans for U.S. investments tied to technology-related production facilities, including Apple, SoftBank, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Oracle and OpenAI.

Renters say they are less likely to ever own a home

Renters put the probability of ever owning a home in the future at 33.9%, down from 40.1% a year ago and continuing a general trend of dropping expectations that began in 2016, according to the latest national survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The regional Fed said Monday that its survey conducted in February found households expect rents to increase 8% over the next 12 months, compared with a 7.1% median expectation in February 2024. Respondents also expect home prices to rise 4% over the next 12 months, up from the median response of 3.8% a year earlier.

The New York Fed’s survey results arrived after Friday’s report from the National Association of Home Builders, showing 57% of U.S. households — 76.4 million out of 134.3 million — are unable to afford a $300,000 home based on their current income. About 75% of households are unable to afford the median-priced home at $459,826, based on a mortgage rate of 6.5%.

Housing is generally considered affordable if mortgage, property tax and related payments take up no more than 28% of total household income, according to conventional underwriting standards.

Residential construction lending declines

U.S. residential construction lending dropped 7.6% in the fourth quarter of 2024 from year-earlier levels, totaling $89.5 billion, as the National Association of Home Builders cited factors including elevated interest rates and tightened lending conditions.

Analyzing data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which oversees banks, the trade group said the volume of construction and land development loans was well below the recent high of $105 billion in the first quarter of 2023. This includes loans for development of single-family homes, as well as attached homes such as townhouse projects that can have up to four residential units for each structure.

The bulk of residential construction loans in the fourth quarter, nearly 57%, was held by banks with under $10 billion in assets. “Small community banks play a vital role ensuring financial and lending opportunities for builders across the United States,” NAHB economist Jesse Wade said in the trade group’s latest quarterly report.