Shelter inflation is the key to North American inflation outlook

It’s all housing at this point.

CIBC today highlights that shelter is the key to getting inflation back to the Fed and Bank of Canada targets. For the Fed, they note that core inflation excluding housing is already at 2% y/y.

They highlight analysis suggesting that rent inflation takes about a year to enter the official measures, so at this point the Fed is fighting ghosts.

“Happily, research out of the Richmond1 and Boston Fed, using
two very different methodologies, arrive at broadly similar
conclusions: by the middle of next year, shelter inflation should
come down to close to its pre-pandemic average of 3%. The Richmond Fed estimate is more aggressive, suggesting
shelter should fall by 3%-points to around 2% while the Boston
Fed paper has a more steady pace of disinflation resulting in a
2%-point decline. But both suggest major progress is right
around the corner.

CIBC sees shelter inflation falling to 3% by mid-2025, which would bring it back to pre-pandemic levels.

In Canada, the calculation is different but the result is the same. The major cost weighing on Canadians is mortgage interest, due to variable rate mortgages and 5-year resets. However with BOC rates staying flat, those on variable rates will soon see flat y/y price changes.

For these changes, CIBC built its own model and see mortgage interest costs ‘cooling dramatically’ over the coming year-and-a-half, leading the BOC to cut the overnight rate to 2.75% by the end of 2025.

There’s more to the inflation story than shelter in both the US
and Canada. But gaining some shelter from rising costs for
accommodation is no small part of the last mile. It’s also an
important part of keeping inflation expectations anchored and
therefore material to supporting interest rate reductions in both
countries through 2025

I think the market has largely moved beyond inflation but these are the same numbers the Fed and BOC are looking at. Next up is the BOC on July 24 and the implied probability of a cut is 66%.

This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com.