Housing costs shifted into overdrive last month and risk becoming an enduring source of U.S. inflation, Bloomberg News reported. Rent of shelter and owners’ equivalent rent each accelerated 0.8% in September from the prior month, the most since 1990. according to Labor Department data released Thursday. Both measures posted record 6.7% advances on an annual basis. That contributed to the biggest year-over-year increase in overall shelter costs, which also includes hotel stays and tenants’ and household insurance, since 1982. Housing makes up about a third of the overall basket of consumer prices, which rose last month by more than forecast. It comprises an even larger share of the so-called core CPI, which also exceeded estimates. The report cited shelter, along with food and medical care, as being among the largest of “many contributors” to the broad advance in September.
