Transportation down, housing up, CPI is flat

The prices that consumers pay along the Wasatch Front are still being driven by the costs of housing and transportation. In October, one went up and one went down, leaving the Zions Bank Wasatch Front Consumer Price Index (CPI) essentially unchanged. 

In October, increasing prices in the housing, medical care and education sectors were offset by lower prices in the recreation, transportation and utilities sectors. Housing saw a month-to-month rise of 0.3 percent, the medical care sector saw a 1 percent increase and the education sector saw a 0.7 percent uptick.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

Year-over-year, the CPI has grown 5.2 percent, while the national Consumer Price Index has increased 2.5 percent since October of last year.

Although prices stayed flat month-to-month in October, Utah prices typically fall this time of year. Apart from this year, Wasatch Front prices have fallen every October since 2011, survey analysts said.

The majority of the year-over-year price increase continues to come from the increase in the cost of housing in Utah. Medical care’s year-over-year rise of 9.4 percent is the highest recorded increase for the sector since Zions Bank began measuring prices along the Wasatch Front in 2010. On an annual basis, the only sectors to contribute a downward pull to the overall price level were food at home and recreation.

“Housing prices, both for rentals and home purchases, along the Wasatch Front have increased steadily for years,” said Scott Anderson, president and CEO of Zions Bank. “The steady increase in home prices and the strong job market that has supported the price growth signal that the Wasatch Front is a good area to choose for investing in real estate.”

Each sector impacts the Wasatch Front CPI slightly differently, according to Randy Shumway, chairman and partner at Cicero Group, a market research firm in Salt Lake City that does data collection and analysis for the CPI.

“For example, housing makes up the largest portion of the average Utahns’ expenditures, so it is weighted heavier than all other areas,” Shumway said. “Recreation makes up a much smaller portion of Utahns’ expenditures, now about 5 percent, so it is weighted lower than most other areas. That is why, this month, for example, a larger percentage decrease in recreation can be canceled out by a smaller percentage increase in housing.”{/mprestriction}