Except for fictitious shelter and motor vehicle insurance and repairs, consumer inflation is thoroughly contained
It appears inflation is coming down this year and probably into next year also. Maybe Biden will not have to twist the Fed’s arm to get them to lower the Fed rate.
Except for fictitious shelter and motor vehicle insurance and repairs, consumer inflation is thoroughly contained
– by New Deal democrat
The October CPI report confirmed yet again what I have been saying for months: except for fictitious shelter, both headline and core inflation are well within what should be the Fed’s comfort zone.
Headline inflation (blue in the first two graphs below) was unchanged in October (thank you, renewed decline in gas prices!) and was up 3.2% YoY. Core inflation less food and energy (red) increased 0.2%, and was up 4.0% YoY.
Shelter, which is 1/3rd of the headline index, and 40% of core, increased 0.3% for the month – still the 2nd lowest increase in over 2 years – and was up 6.7% YoY. More importantly, CPI ex-shelter (gold) was *down* -0.1% for the month, and up only 1.5% YoY.
We don’t have the October read yet from the Atlanta Fed, but as of September 2021, “sticky” CPI ex food, energy, and shelter (gray) was up 2.9 YoY, and will probably be lower for October. [I will update once it is reported later this morning]
Here’s the month over month look:
And here’s the YoY look:
Parenthetically, several weeks ago the Apartment List National Rent Index shows a YoY decline for the 3rd month in a row through October:
Since fictitious shelter lags the change in both house prices and apartment rents by 12 months or more, here’s the update of the YoY% change in the Case Shiller housing index vs. Owner’s Equivalent Rent:
OER rose more slowly than house prices, and is coming down more slowly as well, but I expect the rate of decline to pick up a bit in the months ahead.
Aside from shelter, the only significant categories up 4.0% or higher YoY were food away from home (restaurants), up 0.4% for the month and up 5.4% YoY (vs. 6.0% last month), and transportation services (auto insurance and repairs), up 0.8% for the month and up 9.2% YoY (vs. 9.1% last month). Here’s the YoY trend in both:
The former problem children of new vehicle prices actually *declined* -0.1% in September, and used vehicle prices (/2 for scale in the graph below) continued their cliff-diving, down -0.8%. YoY they are up 1.9% and down -7.1%, respectively:
The bottom line is, except for the lagging index of shelter, and vehicle insurance and repairs, inflation is well-contained. And if shelter were calculated realistically, headline inflation would only be up 1.8%, and core inflation up about 1.2%. We know where shelter inflation is heading, because rents and house prices are already there. So the only remaining question is what happens to other prices, like gas, in the next 6 to 12 months.
Consumer inflation is about 3.0% YoY. The economy has experienced Deflation since last June, Angry Bear, NewDealdemocrat
August consumer inflation confirms “Goldilocks” “soft landing” may well be “transitory,” Angry Bear NewDealdemocrat
Those figures are not what motivates voters. They care about the fact that already high prices for many things are not coming down. They may not be increasing much, but they ain’t goin’ down.
The inflation was the result of putting the world economy in a medically induced coma and then starting it back up again. Similar to when a world war ends. It was a global phenomena that had virtually nothing to do with individual national economic policies. Now that we are passed that, continuing with monetary policy designed to slow the economy further is a thinly disguised counter attack against labor by the ownership class, leveraging consumer anger over recently increased prices.
Here is a chart of past 3 years inflation by categories.
Mohamed A. El-Erian (@elerianm) / X (twitter.com)
A chart of headline CPI longer term shows the recent trend as steep as any US has seen.
Prof El-Erian comments the lower income households are harmed more.
Please explain what ‘fictitious shelter’ is. Thanks.
It might be like the missing 19,000 square feet of Donald Trump’s 30,000 square foot apartment in Manhattan. That seems entirely fictitious.
Please notify my HOA that inflation is only 3%. My HOA fee went up 25% last year. I’ve been told by friends that this not bad. Many have gone up 50% and more.
Bill:
Developer or resident run HOA? Developers do what they wish to do. Resident run HOAs are unknowing mostly in my experience. What are your main costs and can you rebid them? 2022 was far different than 2023. There may be opportunities now.