Bill Roark: Prices increase across board

Housing prices in 10 major cities have seen the price of homes come down after the wild ride of increases in the past two years.  Not only is the final negotiated price sometimes lower than the price paid by a recent buyer but the size of new homes continue to decrease.  This is a direct result of both the price and monthly payment home buyers can afford.  

Inflation has spurred another war as grocery stores and restaurants continue to battle over a diminishing piece of the consumer’s remaining dollars.  In case you haven’t noticed, what you buy at the grocery store and what you order at the restaurant are both passing on their price increases to the consumer.  

Groceries you buy are  seeing a 12.4% average increase over last year and the restaurant you visit is showing an 8.4% increase over the same time last year.  Restaurant sales have decreased for eight straight months nationwide even as some chains try to attract customers with new and lower price specials.

A recent survey revealed that eating out at a restaurant is 3.4 times as expensive as preparing a meal at home with groceries purchased at the supermarket.  As restaurants continue to pass on increased costs for labor, food and prep ingredients this divergence will continue to grow even as supermarkets continue to raise their prices also.  

One final observation: consumers appear to be more irritated by restaurant prices than supermarket prices.  Go figure!

Bill Roark is a Commercial  Associate Broker at  Tri State Properties and  may be contacted by email  to bill.roark@reagan.com.