Inflation 2022: What Prices Stayed the Same (or Even Decreased) This Year?
As of October 2022, inflation is at 7.7% compared to a year prior, with food, airline fares, public transportation, health insurance and gasoline seeing some of the largest price increases. But what about prices that remained the same (or decreased) this past year?
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Although they are few and far between, there are some goods and services with prices that held steady amid the economic turmoil. Surprisingly, these goods and services happen to be popular among consumers as well — not low-demand items like you might expect. Here are 10 prices that stayed the same or decreased in 2022.
Music Streaming Services
“Whether you choose Amazon Music Unlimited, Spotify, or some other service, subscription prices for these services have remained largely the same,” said Julie Ramhold, consumer analyst with DealNews.
New Video Games
“This won’t be true for all titles, but for the most part a new video game for consoles will still cost about $60, depending on which edition you choose to buy,” Ramhold said. “The prices of PC games will fluctuate more than console games so we can see quite a range there, but for physical copies of games for Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation, the going rate is still $60.”
Flagship Smartphones
“When it comes to Apple, Samsung and Google, the prices of the latest devices have basically been the same year over year,” Ramhold said. “While older models may have seen a price drop, it’s been relatively easy to predict what the latest models would cost before release thanks to consistent pricing models by the tech giants.”
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Gym Memberships
Many potential reasons exist for the price of gym memberships not increasing. Many people who own gyms have already invested in long-term equipment and likely do not have a lot of overhead, so there’s no real need for a price increase. There’s also plenty of competition with other gyms and at-home, on-demand training programs, so a price increase could cause current members to look elsewhere.
Televisions
Not only have TV prices stayed the same, but some have decreased. According to the Consumer Price Index, televisions have decreased in cost -16.5% in the past year.
Computer Software and Accessories
Over the past year, computer software and accessories have held pretty steady, with a small decrease of only -0.9, according to the CPI. Hopefully that pattern will continue to hold as tax season arrives and people start buying their favorite tax preparation software.
Car and Truck Rentals
If you have rented a vehicle in the last 12 months, having to shell out more in rental fees probably wasn’t a concern. You might have even paid a little less. According to the CPI, car and truck rentals have decreased -3.5% since October 2021.
Wireless Telephone Services
Most people would prefer to have a lower wireless telephone bill, so it’s a good thing prices did not increase over the past year. In fact, they dropped -1.4%.
Internet Services
With a modest price increase of only 0.5%, it’s safe to say that the cost of internet services largely escaped the rise of inflation. That means you can enjoy your streaming and surfing without added guilt.
Admission to Sporting Events
Admission prices to sporting events have fallen a whopping 17.7%, according to the CPI. So if the average price of a professional football ticket was previously $150, you’d save over $26, which you could easily spend on concessions.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Inflation 2022: What Prices Stayed the Same (or Even Decreased) This Year?
