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
March Quarter 2023
Released
26/04/2023

Key statistics

  • The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.4% this quarter.

  • Over the twelve months to the March 2023 quarter, the CPI rose 7.0%.

  • The most significant price rises were Medical and hospital services (+4.2%), Tertiary education (+9.7%), Gas and other household fuels (+14.3%), and Domestic holiday travel and accommodation (+4.7%).

What's new this quarter

  • The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) have published a joint paper called New Insights into the Rental Market. The paper draws out new insights into the private Australian rental market using a new large administrative dataset of rental properties, which is an input to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). For more details see New Insights into the Rental Market.
  • Monthly inflation data can be found in the Monthly CPI Indicator.

Main features

Weighted average of eight capital cities
 Dec Qtr 2022 to Mar Qtr 2023Mar Qtr 2022 to Mar Qtr 2023
% change% change
All groups CPI1.47.0
Food and non-alcoholic beverages1.68.0
Alcohol and tobacco1.14.4
Clothing and footwear-2.63.2
Housing1.99.8
Furnishings, household equipment and services-0.56.7
Health3.85.3
Transport0.64.3
Communication0.11.2
Recreation and culture0.28.6
Education5.35.4
Insurance and financial services1.96.5
CPI analytical series
 All groups CPI, seasonally adjusted1.37.1
 Trimmed mean1.26.6
 Weighted median1.25.8

Overview

Annual CPI inflation eases in the March quarter

Annual CPI inflation was 7.0 per cent in the March quarter, down from a 30 year high of 7.8 per cent in the December quarter. While prices continue to rise for most goods and services, these rises have moderated in the most recent quarter, resulting in lower annual inflation. Trimmed mean annual inflation, which excludes large price rises and falls, was 6.6 per cent in the March quarter, down from 6.9 per cent in December.

Services annual inflation of 6.1% the highest since 2001

Goods annual inflation eased after two years of steady increases, from 9.5 per cent to 7.6 per cent, due to discounting on furniture, appliances and clothes in the March quarter and lower automotive fuel prices. Services annual inflation recorded its largest annual rise since 2001, driven by higher prices for holiday travel, medical services, rents and restaurant meals.

New dwellings price growth continues to ease

The rate of price growth for New dwellings has continued to ease this quarter following a record annual rise in the September 2022 quarter. The recent moderation in prices reflects improvements in the supply of construction materials and a softening in new demand. 

The number of payments being made under various Government construction grant programs introduced in 2020 have reached very low levels compared to previous quarters, resulting in a small impact on new dwelling prices. 

Strength in rental prices continues across the capital cities

Rental prices have recorded the largest annual rise since 2010, reflecting strong demand amid low vacancy rates across the country. Rental price growth continues to increase in Sydney and Melbourne with both cities recording their strongest annual rises since 2012. 

Gas and electricity prices rise further

Price reviews reflecting higher wholesale gas prices led to rises in gas and other household fuels, with rises seen across all capital cities. The annual rise in gas prices of 26.2 per cent is the largest on record, reflecting this quarter's rise as well as price reviews in the September quarter 2022. 

The annual rise in Electricity reflects price reviews in the September quarter 2022, which were driven by higher wholesale prices. However, price rises in the September quarter 2022 were partially offset by the introduction of electricity rebates in WA, QLD and the ACT. The unwinding of these rebates has seen the full effects of higher electricity prices reflected in the March quarter.

Annual food inflation eases but remains high

Annual food inflation eased to 8.0 per cent, down from 9.2 per cent in the December quarter. Prices rose for all food categories this quarter with the strongest rises for non-alcoholic beverages, food products n.e.c. and fruit and vegetables.

Automotive fuel price falls driven by diesel

Automotive fuel prices fell 0.8 per cent for the quarter. While unleaded fuel prices were unchanged for the quarter, diesel prices fell 10.3 per cent. Automotive fuel prices remain high, however, the March quarter represents one year since Ukraine was invaded, which saw prices rise 11.0 per cent in the March 2022 quarter. This is reflected in a lower annual movement of 1.1 per cent in the March 2023 quarter, down from 13.2 per cent in December.

Increase in education fees highest in over five years

The education group, which covers primary, secondary and tertiary education recorded the highest rise in five years. Higher wages growth saw school fees increase, which was offset by free pre-school introduced in NSW, VIC and QLD. Tertiary education fees increased due to higher indexation of course fees and the final effects of the Job-ready graduate package introduced in 2021.

Main contributors to change

CPI groups


 

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

Alcohol and tobacco group (+1.1%)

Clothing and footwear group (-2.6%)

Housing group (+1.9%)

Furnishings, household equipment and services group (-0.5%)

Health group (+3.8%)

Transport group (+0.6%)

Communication group (+0.1%)

Recreation and culture group (+0.2%)

Education group (+5.3%)

Insurance and financial services group (+1.9%)

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, All groups index numbers and percentage changes
 Index number(a)Percentage change (%)
 Mar Qtr 2023Dec Qtr 2022 to Mar Qtr 2023Mar Qtr 2022 to Mar Qtr 2023
Sydney132.71.47.3
Melbourne132.71.26.8
Brisbane134.61.97.4
Adelaide132.41.27.9
Perth130.40.95.8
Hobart134.01.26.9
Darwin128.21.36.2
Canberra131.31.46.2
Weighted average of eight capital cities132.61.47.0

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 0.9% in Perth to 1.9% in Brisbane.

 

Sydney (+1.4%)

Melbourne (+1.2%)

Brisbane (+1.9%)

Adelaide (+1.2%)

Perth (+0.9%)

Hobart (+1.2%)

Darwin (+1.3%)

Canberra (+1.4%)

Quarterly percentage change by capital city
GroupSydneyMelbourneBrisbaneAdelaidePerthHobartDarwinCanberraWeighted average of eight capital cities
All groups1.41.21.91.20.91.21.31.41.4
Food & non-alcoholic beverages1.61.32.02.01.62.12.11.41.6
Alcohol & tobacco1.11.01.31.31.51.52.01.81.1
Clothing & footwear-2.7-2.0-3.7-3.8-2.3-1.3-1.9-1.4-2.6
Housing1.91.83.41.51.21.91.02.11.9
Furnishings, household equipment and services-0.7-0.4-0.1-0.7-0.6-0.30.3-0.6-0.5
Health3.53.95.43.33.33.43.94.33.8
Transport1.40.21.00.4-0.1-0.1-0.30.10.6
Communication0.30.10.10.10.10.30.10.30.1
Recreation & culture1.40.00.30.2-1.5-1.00.3-0.20.2
Education3.35.87.45.86.07.26.88.75.3
Insurance & financial services1.81.82.51.52.21.51.30.91.9

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

Post-release changes

26 April 2023 - Table 14 in Data Downloads was updated following a correction to seasonal adjustment factors for December 2022 quarter. These corrections only applied to series that are not seasonally adjusted.

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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