Durable and Personal Goods Prices Tick Up in December, but 2026 Brings Signs of Inflation Relief, OpenBrand CPI Shows

SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES, January 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- U.S. consumers closed out 2025 with a modest acceleration in durable and personal goods prices, but the inflation outlook for 2026 is improving. The January 2026 release of the OpenBrand Consumer Price Index (CPI) – Durable and Personal Goods shows prices rose +0.24% month-over-month in December, up from a revised +0.04% in November, marking the thirteenth consecutive monthly increase.

Price growth accelerated across four of five major product groups, led by communication, home improvement, and recreation goods. Appliances remained the exception, posting a -0.75% monthly decline as discounting activity intensified.

“December’s pickup looks more like a normalization than a renewed inflation surge,” said Ralph McLaughlin, Chief Economist at OpenBrand. “What we’re seeing is a late-year adjustment in list prices, even as discounting remains elevated. The bigger story is that the forces that drove goods inflation earlier in the decade—tariffs, supply disruptions, and inventory shortages—are continuing to fade.”

Key Findings for December 2025
- Headline CPI movement: Durable and personal goods prices rose +0.24% MoM, following a sharp slowdown in November.

Product group performance (MoM):
- Communication: +0.76%
- Home Improvement: +0.86%
- Recreation: +0.31%
- Personal Care: +0.03%
- Appliances: -0.75%

- Discounting trends: Discount frequency climbed to 23.5% of tracked SKUs, while average discount depth edged up to 20.9%, the highest frequency reading in months.
- Appliances: Prices declined for the third time in four months, driven by a sharp increase in promotional activity and deeper markdowns.

Looking Ahead to 2026
OpenBrand’s annual look-back shows durable and personal goods prices rose 3.0% in 2025, with most of that growth concentrated in the first half of the year. Appliances and personal care products peaked earlier and ended the year with slower cumulative gains.

“As we move into 2026, consumers should expect fewer price shocks and more predictable pricing,” McLaughlin added. “Goods inflation isn’t reversing, but it is cooling meaningfully. For big-ticket durables especially, competitive pressure and healthier inventories are likely to keep price growth modest, and in some cases, slightly negative this year.”

About the OpenBrand CPI
The data used in this report leverages OpenBrand’s industry-leading library of durable and personal goods pricing, promotion, and availability for over 1.4 million individual products. This is more than ten times the coverage of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Consumer Price Index, allowing for more timely and granular reporting of price changes in the market. The OpenBrand CPI provides real-time insights into consumer price dynamics for retailers, manufacturers, and policymakers, delivering earlier signals than traditional inflation measures.

Download the full report: openbrand.com/cpi

Sidney Waterfall
OpenBrand
press@openbrand.com
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