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SECTION 5 PRICES




Consumer Price Index

• Despite an overall rise in Perth's prices during 2008, the three months to December 2008 saw Perth's CPI fall 0.3%, the first decrease since March 1999. The main drivers of this decrease were transportation costs, which fell by 6.5% in the December quarter. This reflected the lower price of automotive fuel (down 17%) and motor vehicles (down 2.4%).
• In the year to December 2008, Perth's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.7%, on par with the nation's CPI rise. Of the Australian capital cities, Brisbane had the largest increase (4.3%) while Melbourne had the smallest (3.2%).

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX (ALL GROUPS), Change from same quarter previous year

• The main contributors to Perth's CPI growth in 2008 were Education (up 7.8%) and Financial and insurance services (up 7.7%).
• The increase in prices across all Education sectors (primary, secondary and tertiary) occurred primarily between December and March. This has been a consistent pattern over many years, most likely reflecting increases in education costs levied at the commencement of each academic year.
• Rising prices in Financial and insurance services reflected increases in the price of deposit and loan facilities as well as insurance.

12 CONSUMER PRICE INDEX(a), By group - Perth
	CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS FINANCIAL YEAR		CHANGE FROM SAME QUARTER PREVIOUS YEAR	CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS QUARTER
	2006-2007	2007-2008	December 2008	September 2008	December 2008
	%	%	%	%	%
All groups	4.0	3.6	3.7	1.0	-0.3
Food	5.4	4.2	5.5	0.4	1.2
Alcohol and tobacco	3.6	4.1	6.3	2.2	1.3
Clothing and footwear	-0.9	-0.9	-1.4	-2.3	1.1
Housing	7.4	4.6	5.9	2.7	0.8
Household contents and services	2.3	-0.7	1.5	0.2	1.1
Health	5.3	5.4	5.0	-0.2	-0.6
Transportation	2.4	4.7	-1.0	0.3	-6.5
Communication	1.3	0.3	0.6	0.2	0.4
Recreation	1.9	2.0	0.8	0.4	0.9
Education	6.9	7.8	7.8	-	-
Financial and insurance services(b)	2.0	5.7	7.7	0.9	-0.6
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Unless otherwise specified, base of each index: 1989-90 = 100.0.
(b) Base of index: June quarter 2005 = 100.0.
Source: Consumer Price Index, Australia, cat. no. 6401.0.

• Western Australia's Wage Price Index (WPI) rose 1.8% in the December quarter 2008. This followed growth of 1.3% and 1.4% in the two previous quarters.
• The State's 'all sector' WPI growth of 1.8% was higher than Australia's growth of 1.2% and was the highest among all states and territories.
• Through the year to December 2008, the WPI for Western Australia grew 5.7%, which was considerably higher than the national growth of 4.3%.

WAGE PRICE INDEX, Change from same quarter previous year

• In the December quarter 2008 public sector wages increased by 3.1%, more than double the private sector increase (1.4%). This reflects some pay increases for Western Australian Government employees implemented during the quarter, including backdated pay rises for the general public service and teachers.
• Of the selected industries, wage increases in the December quarter were highest in Government administration and defence (4.3%) followed by Education (3.1%), Manufacturing (1.9%) and Health and Community Services (1.7%).
• Mining had the strongest wage price growth for the year (7.3%) but the lowest for the quarter (0.6%). Similarly, growth was high in Construction for the year (7.0%) but relatively low for the quarter (1.3%). Retail trade had the lowest wage price index rise for the year (3.3%) and the second lowest for the quarter (0.9%).

13 WAGE PRICE INDEX, Total hourly rates of pay excluding bonuses: Original
		2007	2008		Change from
		December	September	December	Previous quarter	Same quarter previous year
		index	index	index	index	index
Western Australia		120.0	124.5	126.8	1.8	5.7
Sector
	Private	120.7	125.6	127.4	1.4	5.6
	Public	117.7	121.0	124.8	3.1	6.0
Selected Industries
	Mining	124.8	133.1	133.9	0.6	7.3
	Manufacturing	121.1	125.3	127.7	1.9	5.5
	Construction	136.4	144.0	145.9	1.3	7.0
	Retail trade	117.5	120.3	121.4	0.9	3.3
	Accommodation, cafes and restaurants	115.2	118.7	120.4	1.4	4.5
	Transport and storage	117.0	122.8	124.5	1.4	6.4
	Property and business services	120.6	126.3	128.2	1.5	6.3
	Government administration and defence	118.0	119.8	124.9	4.3	5.8
	Education	117.0	120.4	124.1	3.1	6.1
	Health and community services	116.0	120.3	122.4	1.7	5.5
	Personal and other services	121.2	126.4	127.9	1.2	5.5
Source: ABS data available on request, Labour Price Index, Australia, cat. no. 6345.0.
Note: No occupation data from September quarter 2008 onwards.

• According to preliminary estimates for the December quarter 2008, the price index for established houses in Perth continued to decline for the fourth successive quarter. However, the fall (0.9%) was considerably lower than in the June and September quarters (2.3% and 2.5% respectively).
• In contrast, the price index for project homes increased 1.0% in the December 2008 quarter. This index has climbed by 3.8% since the December quarter 2007.

14 House Price Indexes(a) - Perth
		ESTABLISHED HOMES(b)	Change from previous period(b)	PROJECT HOMES	Change from previous period
Reference period		index	%	index	%
2006-2007		192.8	32.3	144.1	10.6
2007-2008		r194.8	r1.1	148.7	3.2
2007
	September	195.5	1.8	147.6	0.9
	December	197.6	1.1	148.3	0.5
2008
	March	195.3	-1.2	148.8	0.3
	June	r190.8	r-2.3	150.0	0.8
	September	p186.1	p-2.5	152.5	1.7
	December	p184.4	p-0.9	154.0	1.0
p preliminary figure or series subject to revision
r revised
(a) Base of each index 2003-04 = 100.0.
(b) Estimates for the two most recent quarters are experimental (see paragraph 12 and 13 of the Explanatory Notes in the source publication).
Source: House Price Indexes, Eight Capital Cities, cat. no. 6416.0.

• In the December quarter 2008, the increase in the price of materials for house building in Western Australia slowed to 1.1%. This was the lowest quarterly increase since December 2007.
• During the year ending December 2008 the price index for these materials rose by nearly 9%. This was around two percentage points higher than the national rise.
• The largest contributors to the increase over the year were steel and other metal products.

15 Price index of materials used in house building(a), By material - Perth
	2007	2008		Percentage change
	December	September	December	Sep Qtr 2008 to Dec Qtr 2008	Dec Qtr 2007 to Dec Qtr 2008
Material group	index	index	index	%	%
All groups	149.0	160.5	162.3	1.1	8.9
Timber, board and joinery	134.7	145.1	143.7	-1.0	6.7
Ceramic products	160.1	163.6	164.2	0.4	2.6
Concrete, cement and sand	156.8	168.5	171.8	2.0	9.6
Cement products	134.3	136.5	136.5	-	1.6
Steel products	184.8	244.8	249.4	1.9	35.0
Other metal products	146.6	154.8	162.5	5.0	10.8
Plumbing products	135.1	144.6	145.8	0.8	7.9
Electrical equipment	116.4	121.9	120.8	-0.9	3.8
Installed gas and electrical appliances	140.3	145.1	145.2	0.1	3.5
Other materials	169.5	178.1	180.0	1.1	6.2
- nil or rounded to zero (including null cells)
(a) Reference base of each index: 1989-90 = 100.0
Source: Producer Price Indexes, Australia, cat. no. 6427.0.