What's with this inflation? Is the price of everything going to stay high?
WWL spoke with economist Dr. Janet Speyrer about the price of everything.
She says some things will ease down like gasoline, services on the other hand…
"Services are going to be slower to change prices in a downward direction," Speyrer says. "Things like meals out, medical care, day care all remain costlier."
Speyrer tells WWL commodities like gas will fluctuate and ease their way down over time. Other goods and services are headed up right now, but could slow on their way up over time. Then there's one thing she says is not going to come down:
"Rent is another area where inflation won't be reversed," Speyrer explains. There will be…prices that slow so will rent increases but they won't go away and we won't have a downturn in rent."
Speyrer says landlords may use higher rental prices to make their properties more attractive by investing in them, cleaning them up more often and making them more appealing to potential renters who can afford the higher rates.
While rent is likely never to return to the rates they were when inflation hit. She says landlords are always looking to raise rents and what better time than now. And she says: "We're expecting to see prices slow, and the fact that some prices might go down, would be perhaps months or years away. And so we can't look for things that have recently gone up by 8.7%."
When are prices going to stabilize or start coming back down? Well, Speyrer says things like goods and services are not going to come down anytime soon. Not even some of your favorite items are coming down in price: "Apparel and alcohol are on the rise because the reason is that they didn't go up as much and so they don't have as much room to fall."
