AFAIR, "cost of housing" is something that is included as a factor in CPI. From what I recall, renters are surveyed for their actual rents, and homeowners are asked to estimate what their house might rent for, and those numbers are taken in to account in CPI. It's included, just perhaps not as much as might be expected by some folks. This was my understanding from a recent episode of https://moneyfortherestofus.com/episodes/ (not affiliated, just a regular listener).
" From what I recall, renters are surveyed for their actual rents, and homeowners are asked to estimate what their house might rent for, and those numbers are taken in to account in CPI."
Hence my original point that housing costs are included through a heuristic. The point being that a survey asking "how much do you think you could rent your house for" is really un-scientific. If I'm not participating in the market, there is no market, and the price is a guess.
Is that guess good within an order of magnitude? Sure. Is it good within 5%? No.
Housing costs are dragging up the CPI inflation rate while consumer goods are dragging it down. I don't know why people keep voicing this complaint. CPI is what consumers spend their money on, not what your bank spends money on. When people keep taking on longer and longer mortgages their cost per month stays the same but the cost of the house itself is going up. Spending hasn't increased as quickly as the price of the house, leverage has.
