The prices of big-ticket consumer goods rose over the past twelve months at a pace not seen in nearly fifty years, data from the Commerce Department showed Friday.
The personal consumption expenditures price index for durable goods, products intended to last three years or more, increased one percent from a month earlier in January, the Department of Commerce said. That matched the December increase and, absent last year’s extreme price increases, would have been the largest gain since 1980.
Compared with the prior January, prices of durable goods were up 11.6 percent, the largest annual increase since 1975.
The inflation in the price of durable goods has been even more jarring to consumers because it follows a quarter of a century in which prices consistently fell year after year.
Nondurable goods prices rose 7.2 percent compared with a year ago. Services prices were up by 4.6 percent, held back because many parts of the services side of the economy have not fully recovered. Air travel and hotel stays, notably, remain below pre-pandemic levels.
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