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Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia

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Living Cost Indexes (LCIs) measures the price change of goods and services and its effect on living expenses of selected household types

Reference period
September 2023
Released
1/11/2023

Key statistics

  • All five Living Cost Indexes (LCIs) rose between 0.5% and 2.0% in the September 2023 quarter.
  • Over the twelve months to the September 2023 quarter, all LCIs rose between 5.3% and 9.0%.
  • Insurance and financial services and Transport were the main contributors to the quarterly rises.
  • Employee households recorded the strongest quarterly and annual rises due to increases in Mortgage interest charges.

Partial update to the SLCI weights

The SLCI weights are typically updated each year in the December quarter. This is to ensure the weights used in the SLCI basket reflect contemporary household spending patterns. With the continued increase in Australians holidaying overseas, a partial update of the SLCI weights has been implemented in the September 2023 quarter. The partial update increases the weight for International holiday travel for all household types, with the weight for the other components in the basket adjusted to offset the increase in travel weights. The updated weights are available in the Data downloads.

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

Overview

Quarterly living costs

All five LCIs rose in the September 2023 quarter

Insurance and financial services and Transport were the main contributors to the rise in living costs across all household types this quarter. Falls in housing costs partially offset these increases for households where the main source of income is government payments.

  1. Mortgage interest charges is included in Insurance and financial services.
  2. Housing includes Rents, Utilities, and Other housing (Property rates and Maintenance and repair of the dwelling).

Insurance and financial services and Transport groups drove rises across all LCIs

The Insurance and financial services group recorded one of the strongest rises across all LCIs this quarter. This was due to increases in Mortgage interest charges and Insurance.

Although the Reserve of Australia (RBA) had not increased the cash rate since July 2023, previous interest rate increases and the rollover of some expired fixed-rate to higher-rate variable mortgages drove the rise in Mortgage interest charges. Insurance premiums rose across house, house contents and motor vehicle insurance.

Transport costs also rose across all LCIs. The rise was driven by increases in Automotive fuel prices reflecting higher wholesale prices from rising crude oil prices and a weakening in the Australian dollar.

Employee LCI recorded the strongest rise across the five household types (+2.0%)

Employee households, whose primary source of income is wages and salaries, rose driven by a rise in Mortgage interest charges. Mortgage interest charges makes up a higher proportion of expenditure for Employee households. Mortgage interest charges rose by 9.3% in the September 2023 quarter, down from 9.8% in the June 2023 quarter.

Self-funded retiree LCI recorded the second strongest quarterly rise (+1.4%)

The rise for Self-funded retirees, whose principal source of income is superannuation or property income, was driven by rises in Housing and Transport costs. Housing rose due to Electricity, as higher wholesale prices were passed on to customers from annual price reviews in July.

Living costs for households whose main source of income is government payments increased more slowly

The Pensioner and Beneficiary LCI (PBLCI) recorded one of the smallest rises (+0.5%). The PBLCI measures living costs for Age pensioner and Other government transfer recipient households. These households source their principal income from government pensions. Age pensioner (+0.5%) and Other government transfer recipient (+0.6%) households recorded small rises due to offsetting falls in Housing.

Age pensioner, Other government transfer recipient and PBLCI households recorded falls in Electricity this quarter. This was due to the introduction of Energy Bill Relief Fund rebates from July 2023 which reduced electricity bills for concession households in all capital cities. Housing costs for these households were further offset by an increase in Commonwealth Rental Assistance (CRA). From 20 September 2023, the maximum rate available for CRA increased by 15 per cent on top of the CPI indexation that applies twice a year, reducing out of pocket expenses for eligible households. Given the timing of these changes, the September quarter results show only a partial impact of the CRA changes with further impacts to come through in the December 2023 quarter.

Employee and self-funded retiree households recorded rises in Electricity due to higher wholesale price being passed on to customers from annual price reviews in July.

Some households will become eligible for the Energy Bill Relief Fund and will receive rebates if they live in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra (all households in Perth and Brisbane are already receiving rebates under the Energy Bill Relief Fund). It is anticipated that rebates for these households will be reflected in electricity prices from the December 2023 quarter.

Other government transfer recipient households recorded a slightly stronger rise than Age pensioners

Alcohol and tobacco make up a higher proportion of expenditure for Other government transfer recipient households. Alcohol rose this quarter due to the bi-annual increase in the excise tax, and tobacco rose due to the introduction of a 5% annual excise indexation on 1 September and the usual bi-annual Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings (AWOTE) indexation.

Annual living costs

Annual living costs highest for employee households

Over the past twelve months all LCIs rose by between 5.3 per cent and 9.0 per cent.

  1. The Pensioner and beneficiary household series commenced in 2008.
  2. The series for the remaining four household types commenced in 1999.

Employee households recorded the largest annual rise in living costs of all household types, rising 9.0% over the year, down from a peak of 9.6% in the June 2023 quarter.  Mortgage interest charges rose 68.6% over the year, easing from the peak of 91.6% last quarter. Fewer interest rate rises over the September 2023 quarter led to the lower annual rise. However, Mortgage interest charges remain elevated as low fixed rate loans roll into higher variable rate loans.

The remaining four household types recorded rises between 5.3% and 6.0%. Insurance and financial services, Housing, and Food and non-alcoholic beverages were the main contributors across these household types.

Recreation and culture was the main contributor to the annual rise for Self-funded retirees. These households have the highest proportion of expenditure for Holiday travel and accommodation, which rose over the year due to strong demand.

Main annual contributors to cost of living changes for each household type

Among the household types, Insurance and financial services, Housing, and Food and non-alcoholic beverages were the main contributors to rises.

Household typeMain annual contributors
Pensioner and beneficiary (PBLCI)Insurance and financial services (a) (+24.4%)
Housing (b) (+4.5%)
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+4.4%)
Transport (+6.1%)
EmployeeInsurance and financial services (a) (+43.7%)
Housing (b) (+9.1%)
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+4.9%)
Recreation and culture (+5.5%)
Age pensionerInsurance and financial services (a) (+17.7%)
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+4.2%)
Housing (b) (+4.1%)
Recreation and culture (+6.1%)
Other government transfer recipientInsurance and financial services (a) (+32.1%)
Housing (b) (+5.0%)
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+4.4%)
Transport (+6.1%)
Self-funded retireeRecreation and culture (+5.9%)
Housing (b) (+8.8%)
Insurance and financial services(a) (+17.1%)
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+4.3%)
  1. Mortgage interest charges is included in Insurance and financial services.
  2. Housing includes Rents, Utilities, and Other housing (Property rates and Maintenance and repair of the dwelling).

For information on the weighting pattern for the SLCIs, please see Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia methodology and the Annual weight update of the CPI and Living Cost Indexes, December 2022. A partial update of the SLCI weights has been implemented in the September 2023 quarter. Please see Data downloads for the updated weights.

Contributors to quarterly change

Quarterly percentage change, Commodity group - June quarter 2023 to September quarter 2023
Weighted average of eight capital citiesPensioner and beneficiary LCI (%)Employee LCI (%)  Age pensioner LCI (%)Other government transfer recipient LCI (%)Self-funded retiree LCI (%)Consumer Price Index (CPI) (%)
Food and non-alcoholic beverages0.30.70.30.20.50.6
Alcohol and tobacco1.51.51.51.61.21.4
Clothing and footwear0.00.40.3-0.20.40.4
Housing (a)-1.13.7-1.3-0.85.02.2
Furnishings, household equipment and services-0.3-1.20.2-0.90.5-0.8
Health-2.21.3-1.6-2.90.00.8
Transport3.83.43.73.93.13.2
Communication2.22.12.42.02.52.1
Recreation and culture0.20.10.20.3-0.10.2
Education-0.6-0.50.4-0.60.0-0.4
Insurance and financial services (b)4.46.83.45.63.21.4
All groups0.52.00.50.61.41.2
  1. New dwelling purchase by owner-occupiers are included in the CPI but excluded from the Selected Living Cost Indexes.
  2. The Selected Living Cost Indexes includes interest charges and general insurance. Interest charges are excluded from the CPI and general insurance is calculated on a different basis.

For further analysis on commodity group contributors, please see the latest release of the Consumer Price Index.

Data downloads

Table 1. All groups, index numbers and percentage changes, by household type

Table 2. Commodity groups, index numbers, percentage changes and points contributions, by household type

Table 3. Gross insurance, mortgage interest and consumer credit, index numbers and percentage changes, by household type

Selected Living Cost Indexes - 2023 Weighting Pattern

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.

Previous catalogue number

This release previously used catalogue number 6467.0.

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