Trump says petrol and grocery prices are down. Facts say otherwise

The US president incorrectly said that prices of petrol and eggs had dropped while home sales were good.

US President Donald Trump said that housing, petrol, and grocery prices are declining. However, current data do not fully support any of these claims.

In the Oval Office on Thursday, the president, when asked about home sales and if it was an economic indicator that concerns him, said there were very good numbers on housing.

However, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors (NAR), which the reporter who asked the question was alluding to, sales of existing homes are moving at their slowest pace since 2009, and were down 5.9 percent in March from a month earlier.

“Residential housing mobility, currently at historical lows, signals the troublesome possibility of less economic mobility for society,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a public statement.

Trump mentioned that energy prices have dropped to $1.98 in some states. While he did not specify the type of energy, his comments closely mirrored remarks he made last week. At that time, he cited petrol prices specifically.

According to AAA, which monitors national petrol prices, the lowest recorded average was $2.70 per gallon ($0.71 per litre) last week in Mississippi. This week, Mississippi reported the lowest average petrol price again, but this time at $2.68 ($0.70 per litre). Data from GasBuddy, which tracks prices at individual petrol stations, found the lowest individual station prices to be $2.33 per gallon (0.62 per litre) — still above the figure mentioned by the president.

The national average petrol price currently stands at $