5 hours Ago By Jason Knowles
CHICAGO (WLS) -- As President Donald Trump marks the first 100 days of his second term, ABC7 Chicago is taking a closer look at what's happened during Trump's first three months in office and how it's impacted consumers. The I-Team is examining the rising costs of groceries and housing and how tariffs could contribute to the ongoing increases. Inflation has been gripping consumers' wallets for years now.
It's the reason some voters have said they voted for President Trump, hoping he could bring down the cost of living. The I-Team asked experts about the status of groceries and housing and what consumers can do to bring down costs. "It's very disheartening.
That gives me a lot of anxiety just to try to like, you know, see where I will be financially, not even in the next year but in the next six months," consumer Devon Bridges said. Bridges says overall costs like housing and groceries have him on edge, but he's taking action at the store. "It's a fun game to me to see how much I can save," Bridges said.
He uses coupons to create his shopping list, and doesn't buy what he doesn't need. "So initially, it was like $100-something, but I end up only paying like $58," Bridges said. The overall inflation rate is down slightly, but the recent Consumer Price Index shows overall food prices increased 0.
4% month-to-month, and food increased 3%, compared to this time last year. Grocery analyst Phil Lempert, also known as the "Supermarketguru," says consumers should brace for higher costs. "And since the pandemic, there's been a whole bunch of new revelations about our supply chain.
So, if we take a look at higher labor costs, we take a look at higher energy costs and we take a look at climate change. All three of those factors are really affecting why food prices are as high as they are, and frankly, they're never going to go down," Lempert said. "Never going to go down until we can wrap our hands around climate change.
bottom line is every food product of those 40,000 food products that are in the traditional supermarket, every one of them started in the ground. And until we can get under control fires and droughts and flooding, we're still going to have higher input costs." RELATED: 100 days into President Trump term, Chicago-area residents worry Medicaid could be on chopping block The White House says that gas and diesel prices are lower due to what it calls a pro-drilling and deregulatory approach, which is critical to lower costs for the farming and transport of food.
But Lempert says tariffs could also increase food costs. "It's estimated that grocery costs because of the tariffs are going to go up about 2.8%, produce up around 4%.
That's on top of the 26% increase that we've had since the pandemic," Lempert said. Lempert says, like Bridges, make a shopping list to stay focused and be a "smarter" consumer. "We've got to shop around.
We've got to use those digital coupons. We've got to use those frequent shopper cards. And frankly the best thing that we can do is stop wasting our food.
Forty percent of all of our food, according to USDA, is wasted. So buy what you need," Lempert said. Living expenses are up, too.
The Consumer Price Index for shelter, including energy, is up year-to-year by 4%. "Eighty-three percent point to one or more affordability challenges as to why they don't currently own a home," said Greg McBride, a chief financial analyst at bankrate.com .
McBride says down payments are the main challenge for many new buyers. He also says tariffs could increase the price of newly constructed housing. "Tariffs do result in higher prices of construction.
So newly constructed homes would move higher in price. Now that may not take hold immediately, simply because there's an overhang of inventory, of homes that have already been built but not yet sold. And so builders are likely to work down that inventory before they break ground on new construction," McBride said.
That could mean less inventory, which can affect the prices of all homes on the market. And financing a new home can also be more challenging, with the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage at around 6.8%.
"Mortgage rates aren't going to come down unless inflation comes down and the imposition of tariffs of anything that threatens to push inflation even higher," McBride said. Experts say potential homebuyers should still watch for lower mortgage rates and possibly refinance if they recently bought. Even if the rates go down slightly, it may be worth it.
It's a lot to think about as consumers are also bracing for increased prices of appliances, electronics and clothing because of tariffs..
