by Dani Romero
Yahoo! Finance
The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report revealed one category where inflation continues to be stubbornly sticky: housing costs.
Wednesday’s data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that shelter costs ticked up 0.4% month over month in July, higher than June’s 0.2% rise. Housing inflation accounted for nearly 90% of the monthly increase in CPI in July.
“The most disappointing aspect of this report was the shelter data,” Omair Sharif, founder of the research firm Inflation Insights, wrote in a note after the report.
Rent and owners’ equivalent rent each rose 0.5% and 0.4%, respectively, on a monthly basis in July, slightly higher than June’s 0.3%. Owners’ equivalent rent is the hypothetical rent a homeowner would pay for the same property.