Consumer Price Index, Australia

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The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures household inflation and includes statistics about price change for categories of household expenditure.

Reference period
June Quarter 2023
Released
26/07/2023

Key statistics

  • The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.8% this quarter.

  • Over the twelve months to the June 2023 quarter, the CPI rose 6.0%.

  • The most significant price rises were Rents (+2.5%), International holiday travel and accommodation (+6.2%), Other financial services (+2.5%), and New dwelling purchase by owner-occupiers (+1.0%).

What's new this quarter

  • A review of the seasonally adjusted series was conducted in the June quarter. The findings from the latest review resulted in no changes to existing seasonal adjustment settings, with 55 out of 87 series remaining seasonally adjusted.
  • In May the ABS published the article CPI International Comparisons, which provides analysis of inflation in Australia compared to selected countries and explains how measurement of the CPI differs between countries.
  • Monthly inflation data can be found in the Monthly CPI Indicator.

Partial update to the CPI weights next quarter

The CPI weights are typically updated each year in the December quarter. This is to ensure the weights used in the CPI basket reflect contemporary household spending patterns. With the continued increase in Australians holidaying overseas, a partial update of the CPI weights will be implemented in the September 2023 quarter. The partial update will see the weight for International holiday travel increase, with the weight for the other components in the basket adjusted to offset the increase in the weight of International holiday travel. The updated weights will be published as part of the July Monthly CPI indicator release on 30 August 2023. 


The comprehensive update to the CPI weights usually done in December quarter each year will be implemented in March quarter 2024 instead. The weights for the quarterly CPI will continue to be updated in March quarters in future years.

Main features

Weighted average of eight capital cities
 Mar Qtr 2023 to Jun Qtr 2023Jun Qtr 2022 to Jun Qtr 2023
% change% change
All groups CPI0.86.0
Food and non-alcoholic beverages1.67.5
Alcohol and tobacco1.04.7
Clothing and footwear0.60.3
Housing0.88.1
Furnishings, household equipment and services2.16.3
Health-0.1 4.9
Transport-0.11.9
Communication-0.40.7
Recreation and culture-0.26.8
Education-0.25.2
Insurance and financial services3.08.5
CPI analytical series
 All groups CPI, seasonally adjusted0.96.1
 Trimmed mean0.95.9
 Weighted median1.05.5

Overview

Annual CPI inflation eases again in the June quarter

Annual CPI inflation was 6.0 per cent in the June 2023 quarter, lower than the 7.0 per cent annual rise in the March 2023 quarter. This marks the second consecutive quarter of lower annual inflation, also known as ‘disinflation’, from the peak of 7.8 per cent in the December 2022 quarter. Trimmed mean annual inflation of 5.9 per cent was also lower in the June quarter, compared to March 2023 quarter inflation of 6.6 per cent, and the peak in December 2022 quarter of 6.9 per cent.

Services annual inflation of 6.3% the highest since 2001

Services annual inflation recorded its largest annual rise since 2001, driven by higher prices in a range of services categories including rents, restaurant meals, holiday travel and insurance. Goods annual inflation continued to ease from 7.6 per cent in the March quarter to 5.8 per cent in the June quarter after two years of strong price increases. Price rises for food, furniture, appliances and clothes slowed in the June quarter, while automotive fuel prices were 3.6 per cent lower compared to 12 months ago.  

Services inflation is broad-based

Prices continued to rise across a range of services, with annual price growth for services the highest since the introduction of the GST over 20 years ago. Contributing to the prices rises are stronger wages growth and increased costs for utilities and rents, while insurance premiums rose across house, house contents and motor vehicle insurance.

New dwellings price growth continues to ease

The rate of growth in new dwelling prices continued to slow down. Having peaked in the September 2022 quarter at 20.7 per cent, annual inflation has fallen for the past three quarters to 7.8 per cent in the June 2023 quarter. The recent moderation in price growth reflects lower new demand, improvements in the supply of materials and material costs easing. 

Rental price increases highest since 2009

Rental prices rose 6.7 per cent annually. This is the largest annual rise since 2009, reflecting low vacancy rates amid a tight rental market across the country.  

Annual food inflation eases but remains high

Annual food inflation eased to 7.5 per cent in the June quarter, down from 8.0 per cent in the March quarter and the peak of 9.2 per cent in the December quarter. Annual price increases were highest for dairy products (15.2 per cent), bread and cereal products (11.6 per cent) and food products n.e.c (not elsewhere classified) (11.3 per cent). Price rises were softer for fresh food categories like meat and seafood (3.5 per cent) and fruit and vegetables (1.6 per cent).

 

Automotive fuel price fall driven by diesel

Automotive fuel prices fell 0.7 per cent for the quarter. The main contributor was the fall in diesel prices of 6.5 per cent, while prices for unleaded petrol rose slightly by 0.3 per cent. Compared to the June 2022 quarter, unleaded petrol prices are 3.2 per cent lower and diesel prices are 10.1 per cent lower. The gap between unleaded petrol prices and diesel prices is the smallest since March 2022 quarter.

Main contributors to change

CPI groups


 

Food and non-alcoholic beverages group (+1.6%)

Alcohol and tobacco group (+1.0%)

Clothing and footwear group (+0.6%)

Housing group (+0.8%)

Furnishings, household equipment and services group (+2.1%)

Health group (-0.1%)

Transport group (-0.1%)

Communication group (-0.4%)

Recreation and culture group (-0.2%)

Education group (-0.2%)

Insurance and financial services group (+3.0%)

International trade exposure - tradables and non-tradables

Discretionary and non-discretionary inflation

Underlying inflation series

Seasonally adjusted analytical series

Capital cities comparison

All groups CPI

All groups CPI, index numbers and percentage changes
 Index number(a)Percentage change (%)
 Jun Qtr 2023Mar Qtr 2023 to Jun Qtr 2023Jun Qtr 2022 to Jun Qtr 2023
Sydney134.01.06.6
Melbourne133.50.65.6
Brisbane136.01.06.3
Adelaide133.91.16.9
Perth131.50.84.9
Hobart134.60.45.5
Darwin129.71.25.3
Canberra132.71.15.7
Weighted average of eight capital cities133.70.86.0

a. Index reference period: 2011-12 = 100.0.

Capital city highlights:

At the All groups level, the CPI rose in all eight capital cities, ranging from 0.4% in Hobart to 1.2% in Darwin.

 

Sydney (+1.0%)

Melbourne (+0.6%)

Brisbane (+1.0%)

Adelaide (+1.1%)

Perth (+0.8%)

Hobart (+0.4%)

Darwin (+1.2%)

Canberra (+1.1%)

Quarterly percentage change by capital city
GroupSydneyMelbourneBrisbaneAdelaidePerthHobartDarwinCanberraWeighted average of eight capital cities
All groups1.00.61.01.10.80.41.21.10.8
Food & non-alcoholic beverages1.91.61.31.71.51.31.22.01.6
Alcohol & tobacco1.01.40.61.10.70.31.30.31.0
Clothing & footwear0.20.21.12.70.60.20.22.00.6
Housing1.10.41.71.60.40.20.71.10.8
Furnishings, household equipment and services2.51.62.32.31.71.41.62.02.1
Health-0.1-0.3-0.40.00.50.4-0.5-0.2-0.1
Transport-0.60.10.00.50.20.11.10.9-0.1
Communication-0.5-0.5-0.5-0.5-0.5-0.5-0.5-0.4-0.4
Recreation & culture-0.4-0.90.20.30.5-0.61.90.0-0.2
Education-0.6-0.20.00.10.00.00.10.1-0.2
Insurance & financial services3.23.13.72.12.12.02.73.23.0

Selected tables - capital cities

All groups CPI, index numbers(a)

All groups CPI, percentage changes

Longer term series: All groups CPI, weighted average of eight capital cities, index numbers

Data downloads

Time Series Spreadsheets

Data files

Article archive

Measuring Rents in the CPI

Using price indexes

Price indexes in contracts

Price indexes published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) provide summary measures of the movements in various categories of prices over time. They are published primarily for use in Government economic analysis. Price indexes are also often used in contracts by businesses and government to adjust payments and/or charges to take account of changes in categories of prices (Indexation Clauses).

Use of Price Indexes in Contracts sets out a range of issues that should be taken into account by parties considering including an Indexation Clause in a contract using an ABS published price index.

Frequently asked questions

The Frequently Asked Questions page has answers to a number of common questions to do with price indexes and the Consumer Price Index in particular.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6401.0.

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