If you haven’t noticed the soaring gasoline prices along the Wasatch Front in recent weeks, you probably don’t drive a car. The average cost of gas at the pump jumped 31 percent in April alone and is the primary reason the Zions Bank Wasatch Front Consumer Price Index (CPI) climbed 1.1 percent from March to April. Year over year, the CPI has grown 3.4 percent. The national Consumer Price Index has increased 2 percent over the same period.
Due almost entirely to the rapid rise in gas prices, the transportation portion of the CPI jumped 5.7 percent in April. That represents the largest month-to-month increase since June 2015.
In the housing sector, hikes in hotel and motel prices, along with slight lift in apartment rates, contributed to an uptick in overall costs. Housing prices are at the highest level ever recorded, setting a record high for the third straight month. However, the year-over-year change in housing prices — 5.2 percent at the end of April — is the lowest it has been since June 2018 and price growth in the sector has dropped for the fourth straight month.
Slight dips in prices for food-at-home and utility rates put downward pressure on the overall consumer price index. The utilities sector is the only area showing a year-over-year decline in prices at 1.2 percent lower than in April 2018.
“Utah’s strong economy inevitably has put upward pressure on prices,” said Scott Anderson, president and CEO of Zions Bank. “The positive to this trend is Utahns are seeing increased wages and income as well.”
Utahns should get some relief at the gas pump as spring refinery maintenance ends and capacity grows.
“Although gas prices have shot up, we do not expect that trend to continue,” said Randy Shumway, chairman and partner at Cicero Group, a Salt Lake City consulting firm that does data collection and analysis for the CPI. “This will be good for the overall economy as gas prices tend to cause fluctuations in prices across the board.”