1308.8 - In fACT - Statistical Information on the ACT and Region, Nov 2008  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 27/11/2008   
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Contents >> Economy >> Consumer Price Index


CONSUMER PRICE INDEX


Change from previous year

Change from previous quarter

Most significant price rise by group


Introduction


The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a widely used economic indicator, that provides a general measure of changes in prices of consumer goods and services purchased by Australian households. Prices are measured in each of the eight state and territory capital cities. The CPI 'basket' is split into 11 major groups:
Food, Alcohol and tobacco, Clothing and footwear, Housing, Household contents and services, Health, Transportation, Communication, Recreation, Education and Financial and insurance services. These groups contain the 90 expenditure classes, which in turn contain a selection of the individual items which are priced each quarter.

Further information about the CPI is contained in
Australian Consumer Price Index: Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2005 (cat. no. 6461.0).


Change from previous year

Consumer Price Index, Percentage change from corresponding quarter of previous year - Sep Qtr 08
Graph: Consumer Price Index, Percentage change from corresponding quarter of previous year—Sep Qtr 08

In the year to September 2008, the All Groups Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 5.2% for Canberra and 5.0% nationally (weighted average of the eight capital cities). The most significant price rise occurred for Financial and insurance services, which rose by 9.3% in Canberra and 9.5% nationally. There were no decreases in any group.


Change from previous quarter
Consumer Price Index, Percentage change from previous period - Sep Qtr 08
Graph: Consumer Price Index, Percentage change from previous period—Sep Qtr 08


In the September quarter 2008 the All Groups CPI rose by 1.5% for Canberra, and 1.2% nationally (weighted average of eight capital cities). The most significant price rise occurred for
Housing, which rose by 4.1% in Canberra and 2.6% nationally. A fall in the prices of Household contents and services (down 0.8% in Canberra and 0.9% nationally) and Education (down 0.5% in Canberra and 0.5% nationally), as well as Clothing and footwear (down 0.1% in Canberra and 0.7% nationally) and Health (down 0.5% for Canberra and 0.2% nationally) partially offset price rises elsewhere.


Most significant price rise by group
Consumer Price Index by Expenditure Class, Canberra - Housing - Sep Qtr 08
Graph: Consumer Price Index by Expenditure Class, Canberra—Housing—Sep Qtr 08


The largest contributor to the rise of 1.5% in the CPI for Canberra in September quarter 2008 was
Housing (up 4.1%). Within the Housing group, the most significant price increase was in the Water and sewerage expenditure class, which increased by 12.6% in September quarter 2008. The second highest price increase was in the Gas and other household fuels (9.8%), followed by Property rates and charges (8.5%) and Electricity 6.7%. The remaining expenditure classes rose between 0.6% and 3.7%.



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