WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today’s Consumer Price Index release showed that housing prices accounted for more than half of the overall monthly increase in CPI in December. Groundwork’s Executive Director Lindsay Owens released the following statement reacting to the latest inflation data:
“Housing is the last mile on inflation, and the only way to fight it is by increasing our housing supply. Instead, the Fed’s high interest rates are making this crisis worse by forcing potential buyers back into the rental market and tanking the construction of new housing.
“A higher-for-longer interest rate environment is exactly the wrong approach to bringing down housing costs. Shelter inflation should give the Fed even more incentive to cut rates.”