Seller increasing asking price by 8%, calls it CPI

[Peter Nikic]

Wondering if anyone ran across something like this and how best to tackle it? I had an agreement to purchase a multi family property last year but wasn't able to for certain reasons. Now I'm ready, but seller has added 8% to purchase price due to CPI (Consumer Price Index?).

I'm already dealing with the substantially higher interest rates on the mortgage this year as opposed to last year. How do I justify an additional 8% to the price? How do I handle or respond? 

With high inflation, higher mortgage rates, the encertainty of a recession or as I've heard many say that we're in a "real estate bubble", what does one do?

Any thoughts or experience with this?