CAPITAL CITIES COMPARISON


ALL GROUPS CPI

At the All groups level, the CPI rose in five capital cities during the March quarter 2012. Rises were recorded in Hobart (+0.3%), Darwin (+0.3%), Brisbane (+0.2%), Perth (+0.2%) and Sydney (+0.1%). Falls were recorded in Canberra (-0.4%), and Adelaide (-0.1%).

The health group was the most significant positive contributor to the All groups quarterly movement, recording rises in all capital cities. The largest movement was recorded in Canberra (+5.3%) driven by increases in medical and hospital services largely due to the cyclical effect of the Medicare Benefits Scheme safety net reset on 1 January 2012. All other capital cities rose largely due to increases in pharmaceutical products driven by the reset of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme safety net at the beginning of the year.

The education group was the second largest positive contributor to the All groups quarterly movement, recording rises in all of the eight capital cities. The largest city movements were recorded in Brisbane (+7.6%), Perth (+6.8%) and Adelaide (+6.3%) due to increases in tuition fees and the addition of an IT Levy and other non-tuition fees.

The food and non-alcoholic beverages group was the most significant negative contributor to the All groups quarterly movement, recording falls in all capital cities. The largest falls were recorded in Melbourne (-2.3%), Adelaide (-2.3%), Sydney (-2.2%) and Perth (-2.2%). The main contributor to the negative movement in all cities was fruit which recorded falls ranging from 33.3% in Adelaide to 16.9% in Darwin.

The recreation and culture group was the second largest negative contributor to the All groups quarterly movement, recording falls in all cities with the exception of Hobart (+0.7%). The largest movements were recorded in Canberra (-3.0%), Adelaide (-2.4%), Darwin (-2.3%) and Sydney (-2.2%) driven by falls for both international holiday travel and accommodation and domestic holiday travel and accommodation.

Over the twelve months to the March quarter 2012, the All groups CPI rose in all capital cities with the largest positive movements recorded in Hobart (+2.1%), Perth (+1.9%) and Adelaide (+1.8%). Brisbane (+1.3%) and Melbourne (+1.4%) recorded the smallest rises over the twelve months to the March quarter 2012.

All Groups CPI, All groups index numbers and percentage changes
	Index number(a)	Percentage change
	Mar Qtr 2012	Dec Qtr 2011 to Mar Qtr 2012	Mar Qtr 2011 to Mar Qtr 2012
Sydney	178.8	0.1	1.6
Melbourne	176.8	0.0	1.4
Brisbane	184.7	0.2	1.3
Adelaide	183.3	-0.1	1.8
Perth	179.5	0.2	1.9
Hobart	178.6	0.3	2.1
Darwin	176.6	0.3	1.7
Canberra	179.7	-0.4	1.6
Weighted average of eight capital cities	179.5	0.1	1.6
(a) Base of each index: 1989-90 = 100.0.