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Housing Rents and Inflation Rates

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  • BRENT W. AMBROSE
  • N. EDWARD COULSON
  • JIRO YOSHIDA

Abstract

This paper develops a quality‐adjusted measure of marginal housing rents using a monthly statistic of landlord net rental income. The marginal rent index (MRI) exhibits deflation during recessions and leads the official rent index by 7 months. The modified inflation rate based on MRI suggests that the annual official inflation rate was overestimated by 1.7–4.1% during the Great Recession but underestimated by 0.3–0.7% during the subsequent expansionary period.

Suggested Citation

  • Brent W. Ambrose & N. Edward Coulson & Jiro Yoshida, 2023. "Housing Rents and Inflation Rates," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 55(4), pages 975-992, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:jmoncb:v:55:y:2023:i:4:p:975-992
    DOI: 10.1111/jmcb.12971
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    References listed on IDEAS

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