It’s no secret that home prices have soared during the pandemic. Median home prices jumped to a record $362,800 in June, according to the National Association of Realtors, as Americans across the country looked for larger, more spacious places to ride out the pandemic.

But now as people return to city centers, rents are also ticking up, especially in large urban areas. Economists say they expect those higher costs to factor more heavily in overall inflation numbers, which are calculated based on the going rate of home rentals. Overall housing prices rose 3.8 percent last year, Labor Department data show.

The expiration of pandemic-related rent controls and assistance programs are also likely to lead to higher rents, according to Vikram Kumar, an economics professor at Davidson College near Charlotte.

“A lot of leases expired at the end of the year, so as those get adjusted we’re going to start seeing even bigger increases in rents,” he said. “It’s going to have a large impact.”