‘Fed's mouthpiece’ Nick Timiraos: Overall, the main narrative of inflation over the past year has been—first, housing inflation progressed smoothly last year and is now lower than core non-housing services (which is quite unusual) and below pre-pandemic levels. Housing inflation was widely anticipated in 2023 because new rents dropped significantly at the end of 2022, but it appeared slightly later, leading to tensions at the beginning of 2024.