While consumer price indices with and without owner-occupied housing are rather indistinguishable over the long term, at times they can differ markedly. For the euro area, measures that include the cost of owner-occupied housing yield inflation rates slightly above the official HICP rate in recent years.
Why is inflation still struggling to recover in the euro area? The situation in the job market has improved considerably in the euro area. Nine million jobs have been created since the crisis and the unemployment rate has fallen below 8%. Compensation per employee is also recovering.