Amid Inflation Relief, Rental Prices Continue Soaring

Even as overall inflation rates fell to their lowest levels in more than two years, rental prices continued soaring during March.

Consumer price index (CPI) data released Wednesday morning by the U.S. Department of Labor showed a 0.1 percent increase in overall prices during March—a welcome slowdown after increases of 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent in the first two months of the year. Over the past year, consumer prices have climbed by 5 percent. That's down significantly from the peak yearly rate of 9.1 percent last June, though it's still well above the Federal Reserve's stated target rate of 2 percent annual inflation.

Energy prices fell by 3.5 percent and food prices—a significant shocks to Americans' wallets in recent years—remained flat during the month.