[dragonwriter]

> Most people, like you, do not rent and are not exposed to this at all.

Perhaps, but if it were generally true, inflation stats would over-reflect it rather than ignoring it; the housing component is entirely rent driven (it reflects actual rents and the rent forgone by homeowners not renting out their homes), so in a situation where rents are increasing but mortgage expenses are flat, it overstates the impact of out-of-pocket housing costs (it does the reverse when purchase/mortgage expenses are increasing faster than rents.)

[runako]

I agree that arriving the specific component weighting is really difficult, especially alongside the need to make comparisons over time and the changes in household makeup, etc. The concept that housing prices increasing/decreasing rapidly does not change household budgets for most Americans is the salient point that people are missing.