Sticker shock, a feeling as old as commerce itself, is no longer just an irksome, unexpectedly high bill. In the era of social media, overpaying for dinner is an invitation for anyone and everyone to publicly shake their fist over the health of the global economy.
I linked this article in another reply already: https://www.rent.com/research/average-rent-price-report/
Asking rent has been declining since September 2023. New rental leases have lower rent than a year prior. But because the Bureau of Labor Statistics has a 12-month lag in housing price, the elevated rent is still being counted in the CPI print, but this will continue to drop when new rental leases are being counted over the next few months.
Don't you love how the price of such a critical part of life is controlled by a so-called "free market"? Maybe we can try a different way of distributing housing and shelter to people?