Higher rents, hotel rates push up metro area prices

Higher rents and hotel rates helped make the metro region costlier in the 12-month period that ended in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday.

The Consumer Price Index for the 31-county region that includes Long Island rose 1.3 percent in August, compared with a year earlier.

A 1.4 percent decline in energy prices year over year was offset by a 2.7 percent rise in costs for shelter, said economist Martin Kohli, who is based in the agency's Manhattan office.

The food index increased 2.2 percent, in part because of higher restaurant prices, Kohli said.