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SCOTT JAGOW: A partridge in a pear tree will cost you quite a bit more this year. Investment group PNC tallied all the items in the Twelve Days of Christmas song. Here’s Stacey Vanek-Smith:
STACEY VANEK-SMITH: This year the “True Love’s” eclectic offerings will set him back nearly $19,000 — up more than 3 percent from last year.
The pear tree was the big mover: 44 percent pricier.
Blame the booming housing market. It drove up demand for landscaping items.
And rising labor costs have sent the price of Pipers Piping and Drummers Drumming up nearly 3.5 percent.
PNC’s Jeffrey Kleintop says the study tracks the economy fairly well.
JEFFREY KLEINTOP: Certainly labor is a big part of that and even though birds seem a little outlandish, a lot of their cost is tied to transportation and energy, which of course has been the big driver of inflation over the last few years.
The price of buying the gifts online was higher by nearly a third higher than buying them in the store mostly because of the rising cost of shippers shipping.
In New York, I’m Stacey Vanek-Smith for Marketplace.