Energy prices have skyrocketed. The war in Ukraine has driven up the cost of food. The Bank of England printed way too much money, and greedy companies are squeezing every last penny out of hard-pressed consumers.
There are many competing explanations for why inflation has run so high, and why we are struggling so much more than other nations to bring it back down again. Now the Government seems determined to make things worse.
The latest inflation figures make for depressing reading. The rate at which prices are rising remained stubbornly above 10pc, and well above the Bank of England's February prediction of 9.2pc. We are now the only country in Western Europe with double-digit inflation.
This is despite months of interest rate increases. The Government and the Bank of England have been quick to point the finger at other culprits; Vladimir Putin is to blame, or perhaps snarled up supply chains following the pandemic. But there is plenty of blame to go around, and at least some belongs with Michael Gove and his oddly named Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities.
Over the last few years, the Government has driven landlords out of the market. The Bank of England cited higher taxes, more regulation and increases in borrowing costs as the principal culprits. The result? Rents are going through the roof, as anyone who has tried to find a new place over the last few months will testify.
This demented war on landlords is now a major factor in the cost of living spiralling out of control. Until the Government calls a truce, and lets developers get on with building homes instead of trying to micro-manage the rental sector, we have no realistic prospect of bringing it back down again.
Dig into the inflation data, and two categories quickly leap out. One is food, rising by more than 19pc over the last year. The other is “housing and household services”, which are up by an eye-watering 26pc. For price data nerds, admittedly a smallish tribe, these housing costs are complex because the basket includes a whole bunch of things, ranging from the cost of a plumber to your electricity bill. But it is impossible to ignore the role soaring rents have played.
The latest data shows that rents across the country rose by an average of 4.9pc the last year, double the rate of increase only a year ago. And of course, these figures may well understate the increase faced by any individual, as it measures all rents while the actual amount charged typically only jumps when a property is vacated and re-let.
In parts of London, rents are rising by 30pc or more; it isn't surprising that politicians such as Sadiq Khan are already calling for rent controls, or that they've already been imposed in Scotland’s Soviet Republic.