
By Matt McCleskey
Overall retail prices in the Washington-Baltimore area were down slightly in November. The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics says the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers shows prices in the area edged down 0.2 percent from September to November. That downward movement followed a string of four consecutive bi-monthly increases.
The Bureau says lower prices on housing and apparel brought the overall number down, with costs associated with housing seeing their largest drop since 2005. That was driven mainly by lower prices for fuels and utilities, particularly electricity, and by lower costs for hotels and motels. Those reductions though were offset by price bumps in other areas, including transportation, medical care, and education and communications.

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