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Monthly Consumer Price Index Indicator

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The monthly CPI indicator is a measure of inflation and includes statistics about prices for categories of households expenditure

Reference period
July 2023
Released
30/08/2023

Key statistics

  • The monthly CPI indicator rose 4.9% in the twelve months to July.

  • The most significant price rises were Housing (+7.3%) and Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+5.6%).

  • Offsetting the rise was Automotive fuel (-7.6%).

What's new this month

Partial update of CPI weights

The weights for the monthly CPI indicator are typically updated each year in October. 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 to the CPI weights has been implemented in July 2023. 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 travel weights. The updated weights are available in ‘Data downloads’. A comprehensive update to the weights for monthly CPI indicator will be implemented in January 2024. The weights will continue to be updated in January in future years.

For the quarterly CPI, the updated weights will be implemented in the September quarter 2023.

Additional analytical series

Index numbers and annual movements are published for the first time and are available in ‘Data downloads’ for the following series:

  • Goods and Services
  • Tradables and Non-tradables

Main features

Weighted average of eight capital cities, annual movement
 May 22 to May 23 % changeJun 22 to Jun 23 % changeJul 22 to Jul 23 % change
All groups monthly CPI5.55.44.9
Food and non-alcoholic beverages7.97.05.6
     Bread and cereal products12.810.99.9
     Meat & seafood3.82.72.4
     Dairy and related products15.115.012.7
     Fruit & vegetables2.71.0-5.4
     Food products n.e.c.11.510.58.3
     Non-alcoholic beverages9.26.86.8
Alcohol and tobacco4.74.64.5
     Alcohol5.05.15.0
     Tobacco4.13.83.6
Clothing and footwear-0.4-0.71.5
    Garments-0.6-1.20.4
Housing8.37.47.3
     Rents6.37.37.6
     New dwelling purchases by owner-occupiers8.36.65.9
     Electricity14.110.215.7
     Gas and other household fuels27.222.213.9
Furnishings, household equipment and services6.06.34.3
Health4.75.25.2
Transport0.8-0.90.3
     Automotive fuel-8.0-10.6-7.6
Communications1.10.60.3
Recreation and culture3.56.84.1
     Holiday travel and accommodation7.312.95.3
Education5.55.25.2
Insurance and financial services7.88.58.5
CPI analytical series   
       Seasonally adjusted5.85.44.9
       CPI excluding volatile items** and holiday travel6.46.15.8
       Annual Trimmed mean6.16.05.6

** = Volatile items are Fruit and vegetables and Automotive fuel

Monthly Overview

The monthly CPI indicator rose 4.9% in the twelve months to July, down from a rise of 5.4% in June.

The annual movement for the monthly CPI indicator excluding volatile items and holiday travel rose 5.8% in July, down from the rise of 6.1% in June. This series excludes Fruit and vegetables, Automotive fuel, and Holiday travel and accommodation.

Annual trimmed mean inflation was 5.6% in July, lower than the rise of 6.0% in June.

*Volatile items are Fruit and vegetables and Automotive fuel

New dwellings and Rents

New dwelling prices rose 5.9% in the twelve months to July, reflecting high labour and material costs. The rate of price growth has continued to ease due to a softening in new demand and improvements in the supply of materials. The annual rise for New dwellings is the lowest since October 2021.

Rent prices increased 7.6% in the twelve months to July 2023, up from 7.3% in June, reflecting strong demand for rental properties and tight rental markets.

Electricity

Electricity prices rose 15.7% in the twelve months to July 2023, reflecting annual price reviews in July.

Electricity prices rose 6.0% in the month of July 2023. This reflects annual price reviews across all capital cities. The rise was partially offset by the introduction of rebates from the Energy Bill Relief Fund from July. These rebates reduced electricity bills for concession households in Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra, and reduced bills for all households in Brisbane and Perth. Without the Energy Bill relief fund rebates in July 2023, electricity prices would have risen 19.2% in the month. 

In addition to concession households, households newly eligible for the Energy Bill Relief Fund will receive rebates in Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra. It is anticipated that these households will receive rebates from October 2023. For Melbourne, concession households will receive rebates from August 2023, and from November 2023 for newly eligible households.

The following graph shows the Electricity series including and excluding government electricity rebates. 

June 2022, index = 100

  • a) Introduction of the WA $400 household electricity credit
  • b) Introduction of the ACT $50 rebate for concession households
  • c) Introduction of the QLD $175 Cost of Living rebate
  • d) Introduction of the TAS $119 Winter Bill Buster electricity credit
  • e) Introduction of the Energy Bill Relief Fund for concession households in NSW, SA, TAS, NT and ACT, and for all households in QLD and WA. Introduction of additional ACT $50 rebate for concession households

The Electricity series was updated with monthly prices from October 2021 onwards. Annual movements prior to October 2022 are calculated using base periods where electricity prices were updated quarterly in month 3, with carry forward imputation used in the months where prices were not updated.

Gas and other household fuels

Gas prices rose 13.9% in the twelve months to July, down from 22.2% in June. This is due to higher wholesale gas prices following price reviews in July 2022 and January 2023. The decrease in the annual movement is due to the strong monthly rise in July 2022 of 9.8% no longer contributing to the annual movement in July 2023.

The Gas series was updated with monthly prices from October 2021 onwards. Annual movements prior to October 2022 are calculated using base periods where gas prices were updated quarterly in month 3, with carry forward imputation used in the months where prices were not updated.
 

Food and non-alcoholic beverages

Annual prices for Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 5.6%, down from the rise of 7.0% in June.

The main contributors were food products n.e.c., which rose 8.3% due to price rises for snacks and confectionary products and edible oils. Dairy and related products rose 12.7% and Bread and cereal products rose 9.9%.

In monthly terms, Food and non-alcoholic beverages fell 0.2%, driven by price falls for Fruit and vegetables (-2.9%).

Automotive fuel

Automotive fuel prices fell 7.6% in the twelve months to July, which follows annual falls in June (-10.6%) and May (-8.0%), reflecting lower global oil prices compared to 12 months ago.

In monthly terms, Automotive fuel prices fell 0.2% in July, compared to a rise of 3.8% in June.

Holiday travel and accommodation

Holiday travel and accommodation rose 5.3% in the 12 months to July, down from 12.9% in June. Demand and prices remain elevated for both Domestic and International holiday travel and accommodation. However, prices continue to ease since peaking in December 2022.

In monthly terms, Holiday travel and accommodation prices fell 3.3%, compared to a rise of 10.9% in June. The fall is driven by International holiday travel and accommodation after strong rises in June due to the start of the European summer season.

Data downloads

Time Series Spreadsheets

Data files

Weighting pattern

Create your own tables and visualisations with Data Explorer

Caution: Data in Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the reference period when using Data Explorer.

Data explorer for the monthly CPI indicator.

For information on Data Explorer and how it works, see the Data Explorer user guide.

Detailed monthly data

Monthly Expenditure class data

About the monthly CPI indicator

What is the monthly CPI Indicator?

Introducing monthly indicators of underlying inflation

Articles

Measuring Rents in the CPI 

Using price indexes

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. 

Consistent with existing policy, the ABS does not comment on the use (or otherwise) of the price indexes we publish. However, it should be noted that the monthly CPI indicator may be routinely subject to revision, in contrast to the quarterly CPI which is only revised in exceptional circumstances.

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

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) specific to the monthly CPI indicator can be found in the Information paper: Introducing a monthly CPI indicator for Australia FAQs 

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

Methodology

Scope

The monthly CPI indicator is a general measure of price change for goods and services purchased by Australian households.

Geography

Monthly data is published at the national level, derived as a weighted average of the eight capital cities.

Source

Prices are collected for a range of goods and services (the CPI basket) from a variety of retailers across the eight capital cities.

Collection method

Prices are collected in a range of frequencies including monthly, quarterly, and annually using: 

  • web-scraping
  • online and telephone collections from retailers
  • administrative data, including supermarket scanner data.

Concepts, sources and methods

Information about the data sources and methods used to compile the CPI is contained in the Consumer Price Index: Concepts, Sources and Methods.

History of changes

  • Partial update of CPI weights July 2023.
  • Monthly Gas series included June 2023.
  • Annual trimmed mean included April 2023.
  • Monthly Electricity included February 2023.
View full methodology
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