DECEMBER KEY FIGURES
 | Sep Qtr 2008 to Dec Qtr 2008 | Dec Qtr 2007 to Dec Qtr 2008 |
| Weighted average of eight capital cities | % change | % change |
|
| Food | 2.0 | 5.6 |
| Alcohol and tobacco | 1.4 | 5.8 |
| Clothing and footwear | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Housing | 0.7 | 6.5 |
| Household contents and services | 0.3 | 0.4 |
| Health | -1.2 | 4.9 |
| Transportation | -6.9 | -1.2 |
| Communication | 0.4 | 0.5 |
| Recreation | 0.5 | 1.3 |
| Education | 0.0 | 4.8 |
| Financial and insurance services | -0.3 | 7.0 |
| All groups | -0.3 | 3.7 |
| All groups excluding Housing and Financial and insurance services | -0.7 | 2.4 |
|
All Groups, Quarterly change
| Contribution to quarterly change, December quarter 2008
|
DECEMBER KEY POINTS
THE ALL GROUPS CPI
- fell 0.3% in the December quarter 2008, compared with a rise of 1.2% in the September quarter. This is the largest quarterly fall since September quarter 1997.
- rose 3.7% through the year to December quarter 2008, compared to an annual rise of 5.0% to September quarter 2008.
OVERVIEW OF CPI MOVEMENTS
- The most significant price falls this quarter were for automotive fuel (-18.2%), motor vehicles (-2.4%), deposit and loan facilities (-1.9%) and pharmaceuticals (-4.7%).
- The contribution of automotive fuel fell 1.47 index points, providing a negative impact on the December quarter 2008 CPI movement, compared to a rise of 0.16 index points in the September quarter 2008.
- The most significant offsetting price increases were for rents (+1.8%), fruit (+8.0%), tobacco (+1.7%) and take away and fast foods (+1.5%).
NOTES
FORTHCOMING ISSUES
| ISSUE (QUARTER) | Release Date |
| March 2009 | 22 April 2009 |
| June 2009 | 22 July 2009 |
| September 2009 | 28 October 2009 |
| December 2009 | 27 January 2010 |
ROUNDING
Any discrepancies between totals and sums of components in this publication are due to rounding.
LINKS TO OTHER PARTS OF THIS RELEASE ON THE WEBSITE
To access the 'Main Contributors to Change' data (on the website) use the link '
Main Contributors to Change' as shown below.
To access the 'Capital Cities Comparison' data (on the website) use the link
'Capital Cities Comparison' as shown below.
The standard way to access links to other parts of this or any release on the website is by selecting the required link from the links list in the box at the top left hand side of the 'Summary' page.
INQUIRIES
For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Lee Taylor on Canberra (02) 6252 6251.
Quality Declaration 
Print Page
Print All