Of course the consumer price index, out this morning, doesn’t show land prices or land rents. That is, cost of getting access to land is buried in all the other figures.
Much is being made of the year-to-year decline, which is largely due to the drop in petroleum (and gasoline) prices. Of course this is reflected in housing costs, which include an energy component. But the main piece of housing costs is “shelter cost.” Under this, “rent” and “owner equivalent rent” increased 3.2% and 2.1%, respectively. Because most Americans are “homeowners,” the latter figure has a large impact on the total CPI. The actual cost of purchasing a house and lot may have declined, but the CPI’s housing cost is based on what you might have to pay to rent a unit like the one you are buying.
The price of used cars also dropped, probably because fewer people are interested in buying one. But the cost of what BLS calls “education” increased 5.6%.
For some reason BLS seems not to have yet posted the sub-national data.