I am popping out of book leave to just throw a few charts at you regarding the Inflation data for December. CPI came in a 0.3% versus 0.2% expected month over month. But the devil is in the details.
BLS pointed to shelter as the source of the increase: “The index for shelter continued to rise in December, contributing over half of the monthly all items increase.”
In the real world, shelter measures were flat or negative.
The Apartment List National Rent Report showed that the rental market ended 2023 with a fifth straight month of negative rent growth Nationwide, median rent fell by 0.8% in December — even as the BLS modeled, laggy measure showed a rise.
Same with Zillow — both the Observed Rent Index (above) and the the Zillow Home Value Index (below) actually FELL in November 2023 . . .
Sources:
Apartment List National Rent Report
Apartment List, January 3, 2024
Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI)
Consumer Price Index
BLS, January 11, 2024
