Home Furnishings Prices Continue Four Year Decline | New Vehicles, Gasoline, Food, and Beverage Prices
April 7,
2017 by Jane Chero in General 
This is the fourth factoid in a series of five factoids detailing the decline of prices among Furniture and Home Furnishings as well as many other major consumer items. The prices of consumer items grew steadily coming out of the recession for virtually all broad product categories until 2012 to 2014, when Durable Goods, including furniture, appliances, and electronics, along with Non Durables, and Commodities began to decline. The Services sector, led by skyrocketing medical costs, is the only broad group continuing to see large price increases. (See Interpreting the CPI in the first factoid of this series.)
New cars and trucks is one Durable Goods area that has seen steady price increases, up 6.8 percent since 2010. On the flip side, however, is that while cars have become more expensive, gasoline prices have become cheaper. Gas prices peaked in 2012 at levels 30.8 percent above 2010, but began their decline three years ago. In 2016 the price of gasoline is down 23.4 percent down from 2010 .
Food, both groceries and restaurant prices, have experienced overall growth from 2010 to 2016. Food away from home showed the most growth – increasing 16 percentage points.
Source: Consumer Price Index, Bureau of Labor Statistics *2016 data through 3rd quarter