However, we do have a serious price problem, mostly around several things people really care about: car prices, food prices, air fares, and, most of all, housing transaction prices. Below the fold, we’ll go through the latest official price data from the December Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price data release from last week, and also discuss that graphic above on our crazy housing transaction prices. www.bea.govHealth Care Prices (Which Are Hard to Measure Due to Insurance) Have Been Seemingly Quite Restrainedwww.bea.govHere’s the Price Index for Recreational Goods. Eventually the surges and crashes in transaction prices for purchasing housing and signing rental leases will match up with the PCE price index, at least in theory. But until then, the PCE index for housing vastly understates the near-term price increases faced by renters and would-be house purchasers this year.

Source: Wall Street Journal December 27, 2023 18:02 UTC