At 9.1%, the new inflation numbers shouldn't be enough to get you to panic, but they are plenty to generate concern. 

That's true in most of CRE, but there's some particular worry on the multifamily front, according to the National Apartment Association. The rent portion of CPI, or the consumer price index, otherwise known as inflation, was up 5.8% year over year in June. As the NAA noted, that's the highest level since 1986, back when inflation was coming down from actual double digits without a decimal place.

That's less than the headline 9.1%, but it's still a serious number. And unlike the overall shelter component of CPI—which includes a current rent equivalent of homeowners, even though most are locked into fixed rates that don't change over time—this is real, not theoretical, change. Multifamily owners and operators are adjusting rents upwards because that's how they manage inflation and their own spiraling costs.