The consumer price index (CPI) climbed by 0.3% in December, according to Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics report released yesterday evening. While the annual rate of inflation in the United States and certain European Union countries is slowing, it remained unchanged at 5.3%, the highest rate in two decades.

In December, most notably, the fastest increases were in transportation, which increased by 1.1%; housing costs and medical services, both of which went up by 0.6%; and apartment maintenance, which increased by 0.2%. Conversely, declines took place in the prices of fresh fruits and vegetables, which were down 2.8%; entertainment, which was down 1.4%; and clothing, down 1%.

On an annual basis, the highest increases were observed in transportation and communication (9.2%), housing costs (6.3%), apartment maintenance (5.7%), and food (3.6%). The largest price drop took place in clothing and footwear, down 4.6%.

Apartment prices are issued at the same time as the price index. They are, however, excluded from the CPI calculation. When the prices of transactions in October and November 2022 were compared to those in September and October 2022, it was discovered that apartment prices increased by 0.3%, the smallest increase since February 2022. Compared to the same period in 2021, the annual increase in prices reached 18.8%.

In contrast, last month, apartment prices indicated a gain of 20.3% compared to the corresponding period last year, making it the largest annual price gain in a decade.