Elizabeth Trovall -   Aug 10, 2023
The July Consumer Price Index out Thursday shows inflation ticking up — almost wholly due to shelter inflation. But how the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates the price people pay for housing includes some lagging data. So, while shelter inflation is still at 7.7% year-on-year, economists are incorporating new, more timely data into their forecasts that shows a cooling of housing prices.
The thing about the rental data the government uses to calculate the Consumer Price Index is that, as San Francisco Federal Reserve economist John Mondragon told us, “It can be really sticky. If you’re renting an apartment, you signed, say, typically a one year lease, your rent is going to be fixed for that year.”
So if you’ve been in your apartment for ten years, your rent could be much lower than a new renter’s. Which is why Mondragon also likes to look at other data to see , “People who are moving today, what are they paying?”
Zillow is one place to look for asking rents, said Kitty Richards with the Groundwork Collaborative.
“Housing costs inflation has actually been cooling since last summer, and is already down to pre-pandemic levels,” Richards said.
During the pandemic, lagging shelter inflation data failed to capture the sudden increase in rents, said Harvard University lecturer Judd Cramer.
“So what people are hoping is that now the pattern sort of reverses itself. Shelter inflation works itself back down to 2%, 3%, even 0%,” Cramer said.
Cramer said the BLS is looking at experimental measures to help track real-time rent inflation data.
Problems with affordable housing aren’t going away, said economist Robert Dietz with the National Association of Home Builders.
“We’ve got the tightest housing market for more than 40 years,” Dietz said.
The more policymakers can increase the supply of houses, he said, the more the price of housing will cool.
Elizabeth Trovall reported this story from Houston.

@davidmoran
So what's the overall message of the article (hiiden behind paywall etc)?
Noting that Kraft-Heinz and Kellog's prices have risen by 25-30% over the past two years....you might scoff at this but I can tell you that cost increase inputs continue...I haven't seen any cost reductions at the grocery store....
Baseball Fan

@yogibb said,
While Moody's rates credit unions, I haven't seen reports of similar downgrades.
Credit unions have simpler models - take deposits, offer CDs, provide auto and home leans, park excess in Treasuries. They don't have CRE exposures. Their membership model is also beneficial mutually.

Income investing is a myth that has been promoted for years. In many cases, the writer wants to sell you something. Income investing as someone's main/first criterion has no legs in reality because TR=total return (performance) is the ultimate indicator. TR includes everything and all distributions are part of it. Risk-adjusted performance is the first thing you look for, after that, you can look for high distributions.
I have been discussing HIGH INCOME since 2010.
First came ATT,VZ,IBM as a must vs SPY,QQQ. A simple chart can prove how pathetic ATT,VZ,IBM were since 2010.
Then came MLP which lost more than half.
Then came fixed income CEFs where they made a total of 6-7% in the last 5 years while SPY made over 70%.
Lastly, I'm not against high distributions, I'm against using it as someone's main criterion.

My preference is to use a local institution for checking and direct deposit.
I'm a member of a locally-based credit union with many nearby branches.
If any issues arise, I can readily speak to someone in person.
Over the years, I've found that CUs generally offer better terms for loans, credit cards,
and checking/savings accounts than many brick-and-mortar banks.
Their customer service is also superior to big banks in my experience.
My credit union provided a Medallion signature guarantee when I transferred
a Roth IRA from one institution to another.
Note: I also have an Ally online savings account.

Noting that Kraft-Heinz and Kellog's prices have risen by 25-30% over the past two years....you might scoff at this but I can tell you that cost increase inputs continue...I haven't seen any cost reductions at the grocery store....

Try CRV and then Accord will feel like a sports car. Now we have CRV and RDX. We have been a Honda/Acura family for many years.

Important point:
investors who trade directly with T. Rowe Price can open new accounts in the funds.
Don't look for these funds to be open via brokerages.

So my question is: why would you prefer to own bond funds to a longer term CD when rates are falling?