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Consumer Price Index, Australia

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The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of household inflation and includes statistics about price change for categories of household expenditure

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Reference period
September 2019
Released
30/10/2019
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Key statistics

  • The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.5% this quarter.
  • Over the twelve months to the September 2019 the CPI rose 1.7%.
  • International holiday, travel and accommodation rose 6.1%.
  • Automotive fuel (-2.0%), fruit (-3.1%) and vegetables (-2.5%) all fell.

Main features

  Jun Qtr 2019 to Sep Qtr 2019Sep Qtr 2018 to Sep Qtr 2019
Weighted average of eight capital cities% change% change
All groups CPI0.51.7
Food and non-alcoholic beverages0.42.3
Alcohol and tobacco2.06.6
Clothing and footwear1.51.5
Housing0.30.4
Furnishings, household equipment and services1.11.8
Health-0.23.1
Transport-0.30.7
Communication-1.1-4.1
Recreation and culture1.51.7
Education0.12.8
Insurance and financial services0.20.5
CPI analytical series
 All groups CPI, seasonally adjusted0.31.7
 Trimmed mean0.41.6
 Weighted median0.31.2

 

Changes in this and future releases

The ABS has ceased publishing a PDF as part of the release of Consumer Price Index, Australia (cat. no. 6401.0) as of the June 2019 quarter. CPI data will be presented in HTML format only on the ABS website. Should you have any concerns regarding this transition, please contact the ABS via email on client.services@abs.gov.au.

Main contributors to change

CPI groups

The discussion of the CPI groups below is ordered in terms of their absolute significance to the change in All groups index points for the quarter (see Tables 6 and 7). Unless otherwise stated, the analysis is in original terms.

Recreation and culture group (+1.5%)

Alcohol and tobacco group (+2.0%)

Furnishings, household equipment and services group (+1.1%)

Housing group (+0.3%)

Food and non-alcoholic beverages group (+0.4%)

Clothing and footwear group (+1.5%)

Communication group (-1.1%)

Transport group (-0.3%)

Insurance and financial services group (+0.2%)

Health group (-0.2%)

Education group (+0.1%)

International trade exposure - tradable and non-tradables

Seasonally adjusted analytical series

Capital cities comparison

All groups CPI

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.5% this quarter in original terms and rose 0.3% in seasonally adjusted terms. Annually, the CPI rose 1.7%.

Main positive contributors

  • Recreation and culture (+1.5%) due to the peak tourist season in Europe and America which drove international holiday, travel and accommodation (+6.1%).
  • Alcohol and tobacco (+2.0%) driven by tobacco (+3.4%) due to the annual increase in the tobacco excise (12.5%) applied on 1 September.

Main negative contributors

  • Communication (-1.1%) driven by telecommunication equipment and services (-1.1%) due to increased use of mobile services.
  • Transport (-0.3%) due to a fall in automotive fuel (-2.0%) as recent falls in world oil prices flow through to consumers.

All groups CPI, all groups index numbers and percentage changes

 Index number(a)Percentage change
 Sep Qtr 2019Jun Qtr 2019 to Sep Qtr 2019Sep Qtr 2018 to Sep Qtr 2019
Sydney116.50.51.6
Melbourne115.90.51.7
Brisbane115.50.61.9
Adelaide114.50.71.9
Perth112.60.51.6
Hobart114.70.52.2
Darwin111.30.30.5
Canberra114.30.71.8
Weighted average of eight capital cities115.40.51.7

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

Main contributors by city:

Sydney (+0.5%)

Melbourne (+0.5%)

Brisbane (+0.6%)

Adelaide (+0.7%)

Perth (+0.5%)

Hobart (+0.5%)

Darwin (+0.3%)

Canberra (+0.7%)

Use of 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 that 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 that has answers to a number of common questions to do with price indexes and the Consumer Price Index, in particular.

Article archive

CPI enhancements

CPI feature articles

CPI 17th series review

Selected tables - capital cities

1 All groups CPI, index numbers(a)

2 All groups CPI, percentage changes

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

Data downloads

Tables 1 and 2. CPI - all groups, index numbers and percentage changes

Data files
Download xls [132.5 KB]

Tables 3 and 4. CPI - groups, weighted average of eight capital cities, index numbers and percentage changes

Data files
Download xls [134 KB]

Table 5. CPI - groups, index numbers by capital city

Data files
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Table 6. CPI - group, sub-group and expenditure class contribution to change in all groups indexes, by capital city

Data files
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Table 7. CPI - group, sub-group and expenditure class, weighted average of eight capital cities

Data files
Download xls [1.18 MB]

Table 8. CPI - analytical series, weighted average of eight capital cities

Data files
Download xls [326.5 KB]

Table 9. CPI - group, sub-group and expenditure class, index numbers by capital city

Data files
Download xls [3.78 MB]

Table 10. CPI - group, sub-group and expenditure class, percentage change from corresponding quarter of previous year by capital city

Data files
Download xls [2.75 MB]

Table 11. CPI - group, sub-group and expenditure class, percentage change from previous quarter by capital city

Data files
Download xls [2.59 MB]

Table 12. CPI - group, sub-group and expenditure class, points contribution, by capital city

Data files
Download xls [1.6 MB]

Table 13. CPI - group, expenditure class and selected analytical series index numbers, seasonally adjusted, weighted average of eight capital cities

Data files
Download xls [457 KB]

Table 14. CPI - expenditure class, combined seasonal adjustment factors, weighted average of eight capital cities

Data files
Download xls [957.5 KB]

Methodology

Consumer Price Index, Australia methodology, September 2019

Articles