Consumer prices down slightly along Wasatch Front

SALT LAKE CITY — The Zions Bank Wasatch Front Consumer Price Index increased 0.7 percent from last month. The U.S. CPI — an aggregation of all prices throughout the nation — increased at a rate of 0.3 percent.

Year-over-year, the Wasatch Front Index has increased 2.5 percent, comparable to the national index rise of 2.3 percent. Increases in the price of housing and transportation drove April’s inflation, a news release stated.

"Across the Wasatch Front and the nation, the housing market is showing signs of recovery," said Randy Shumway, chief executive officer of The Cicero Group. "A 1.0 percent increase in the costs of housing accounted for half of the rise in April’s CPI along the Wasatch Front." 

Over the course of the last 12 months, the price of housing has increased 3.7 percent across the Wasatch Front, compared to 1.7 percent nationally, he said.

"Consumer confidence in home prices reflects an increasingly positive outlook for the local housing market and economy," Shumway added.