Bay Area inflation rate slows as consumer prices start to cool off
Bay Area consumer prices cooled off in a big way during April, offering some hope that the region’s brutally high inflation rate has begun to ease after months of mammoth cost increases.
But digging into the details of the government report Wednesday reveals relief in grocery, fuel and heating prices, there’s lingering wallops to the wallet for keeping the lights on and enjoying food from restaurants.
The inflation rate in the Bay Area rose at a yearly pace of 4.2% in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics stated Wednesday in a new report on consumer prices. The agency’s regional figure, not seasonally adjusted, includes Marin County in the North Bay.
The Bay Area inflation rate in April, measured over a one-year period, was the smallest annual gain in more than a year, the federal agency’s statistics shows.
The annual rate of inflation in Bay Area consumer prices last month was back down to where it was in December 2021, also 4.2%.
Bay Area consumer prices overall also appear to be easing on a short-term basis.
Over the last two months, regional consumer prices rose by 0.4%, slowing from a 1.8% rise from December to February.
The agency’s Bay Area commissioner, Chris Rosenlund, attributed the latest bimonthly increase to higher prices for housing.
Regional costs for shelter overall were up 1.1% for the two months and 5.4% annually. While rent inflation was 0.5% for March-April and 4.9% year over year, the estimate of what it would cost for homeowners to rent their own dwellings went up 0.9% and 5.8%, respectively.
And the region’s consumer price inflation rate is higher when the volatile energy and food categories are taken out of the equation: 4.7% annually in April, up from 4.6% in February.
Bay Area consumers are getting price relief at the grocery store but not at the restaurant, the latest data show.
Food prices overall were up 6.1% over 12 months, slower than the 7.9% annual pace in February, and down 0.7% in the past two months. That decline was led by a 1.1% two-month decline for food eaten at home, and annual inflation dropped to 5.2% from 8.1% in February.
Meanwhile, food eaten away from home was up 0.4% from February to April and 7.9% annually, up slightly from 7.8% in February. Regional inflation for dining was up 6.9% annually for all of 2022, up from 4.4% in 2021 and 4.1% in 2020.
As for energy, the regional prices overall were down 3.8% in the past two months and 7.9% from a year before. Natural gas was down 36% bimonthly and 15.9% annually, and gasoline was up 4.2% in March-April but down 14.3% from a year before. Those drops offset higher electricity costs of 4.7% in March-April and 9.5% over 12 months.
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North Bay Business Journal contributed to this report.
