Shelter is the main item in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in the United States, accounting for 34.4% of the total basket. Its growth has accelerated sharply since 2021 and the post-pandemic economic recovery: the y/y rate strengthened from 1.5% in February 2021 to a peak of 8.2% in March 2023 and has decreased very slightly since, down to 8.0% in May. The large contribution of the shelter component keeps US inflation high. Excluding this component, the core inflation reading for May dropped from 5.3% to 3.4%. Moreover, the current gap between the standard core measure – i.e. excluding energy and food – and the core measure that also excludes shelter has been the widest since the early 1980s
