Price indexes and inflation

Promotes understanding of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as a measure of household inflation, how's it measured and how it's used

This article details the 2024 weight update for the Consumer Price Index and Selected Living Cost Indexes

• The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.2% this quarter.
• Over the twelve months to the September 2024 quarter, the CPI rose 2.8%.
• The most significant price rises this quarter were Recreation and culture (+1.3%), Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+0.6%), and Alcohol and tobacco (+1.3%).

This publication provides the correspondence between the expenditure classes of the 17th series CPI and the Household Expenditure Classification

• Export price index fell 4.3% this quarter and 6.8% through the year.
• Import price index fell 1.4% this quarter and 1.1% through the year.

• The monthly CPI indicator rose 2.1% in the 12 months to September.
• The most significant price rises at the Group level were Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.3%), Alcohol and tobacco (+6.3%), and Housing (+1.6%).  Partly offsetting the annual increases in other Groups was Transport (-3.8%).

Final demand (excluding exports)

• Rose 1.0% this quarter.
• Rose 3.9% over the past twelve months.

The weighted average of the eight capital cities Residential Property Price Index:

• rose 4.7% this quarter.
• rose 23.7% over the last twelve months.

The total value of residential dwellings in Australia rose $512.6b to $9,901.6b this quarter, and the mean price of residential dwellings rose $44,000 to $920,100.

• All five Living Cost Indexes (LCIs) rose between 0.3% and 0.6% in the September 2024 quarter.
• Insurance and financial services and Recreation and culture were the main contributors to quarterly rises across all LCIs. These increases were offset by falls in Electricity and Automotive fuel prices.
• Over the twelve months to the September 2024 quarter, the LCIs rose between 2.8% and 4.7%.

• The total value of residential dwellings in Australia rose by $225.9 billion to $10,911.8 billion this quarter.
• The number of residential dwellings rose by 52,900 to 11,211,000 this quarter.
• The mean price of residential dwellings rose by $15,600 to $973,300 this quarter.

• The seasonally adjusted WPI rose 0.8% this quarter and 3.5% over the year.
• Both the private sector and the public sector rose 0.8%, seasonally adjusted, for the quarter.
• In original terms, the largest industry contributors to quarterly wages growth were Healthcare and social assistance (+1.7%), Retail trade (+2.1%), and Administrative and support services (+2.1%).