Shelter costs lift NY metro area prices 1.7% in past year

Prices in the metropolitan area, including Long Island, rose 1.7 percent in the past 12 months, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday.

The cost of housing drove the one-year rise in prices, the department said. The department tracks the cost of housing by measuring rental costs, rather than home prices, including an estimate of what homeowners would have to pay to rent their homes.

The metropolitan area includes New York City and its suburbs in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.

Nationally, consumer prices climbed 1.9 percent last month compared with a year earlier.

Higher gas and housing costs boosted U.S. consumer prices 0.4 percent in August from July, the most in seven months. The increase suggests inflation could be picking up, but the figures were likely distorted by Hurricane Harvey.

In the metro area, prices rose a slight 0.2 percent in August, lower than the national rate.

The government said Harvey had a “very small effect” on its ability to gather data. But it would not say whether last month’s gas price increase resulted from the storm.

Harvey disrupted oil refineries on the Gulf Coast and pushed up average gas prices nationwide, though the increase occurred at the end of the month. The government collects price data throughout the month.

With Newsday staff