Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia

This is not the latest release View the latest release

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

Reference period
June 2022
Released
3/08/2022

Key statistics

 
  Mar Qtr 2022 to Jun Qtr 2022Jun Qtr 2021 to Jun Qtr 2022
Weighted average of eight capital cities, All groups% change% change
Selected Living Cost Indexes (LCIs) - Household type:  
 Pensioner and beneficiary LCI (PBLCI)1.35.0
 Employee LCI1.54.6
 Age pensioner LCI1.35.2
 Other government transfer recipient LCI1.34.8
 Self-funded retiree LCI1.55.0
Consumer Price Index (CPI)1.86.1

In the June 2022 quarter, all five LCIs rose:

  • Food and non-alcoholic beverages and Transport were the main contributors for all household types.
  • Floods, rising freight and input costs, and ongoing supply chain disruptions affected many Food series, notably Fruit and vegetables.
  • Automotive fuel rose due to global sanctions on Russian oil and ongoing economic recovery strengthening global demand.
  • Furnishings, household equipment and services contributed to the rises for all household types, driven by Furniture due to high freight and manufacturing costs.
  • Pensioner and beneficiary, Age pensioner and Other government transfer recipient households recorded smaller rises (+1.3%) than the other two household types (+1.5%), due to recording price falls for Health.
  • Pharmaceutical products fell due to an increase in the proportion of consumers who qualify for subsidies under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
  • Higher Mortgage interest charges also contributed to the rise for Employee households. 
     

Over the past twelve months all LCIs rose by between 4.6% and 5.2%:

  • Transport was the main contributor for all five household types, with the price of Automotive fuel rising over 32%.
  • Age pensioner households had the highest annual increase (+5.2%). This is the largest annual increase since the September 2006 quarter for this household type. Food and Housing make up a higher proportion of expenditure for Age Pensioner households compared to the other household types.
  • Employee households had the lowest annual increase (+4.6%), mainly due to Mortgage interest charges falling over the year. Excluding Mortgage interest charges, the index for this household type would have risen 4.9%.

Main contributors to change

Percentage change, Commodity group - March Quarter 2022 to June quarter 2022
Weighted average of eight capital citiesPensioner and beneficiary LCIEmployee LCIAge pensioner LCIOther government transfer recipient LCISelf-funded retiree LCIConsumer Price Index (CPI)
       
Food and non-alcoholic beverages2.21.92.22.12.12.0
Alcohol and tobacco0.80.70.80.90.70.8
Clothing and footwear4.03.53.94.14.03.5
Housing (a)0.50.50.50.50.52.5
Furnishings, household equipment and services2.92.23.32.43.32.5
Health-1.50.7-0.9-2.10.30.4
Transport2.72.42.52.82.32.3
Communication0.10.00.00.10.10.1
Recreation and culture1.61.41.81.41.41.4
Education0.00.00.00.00.00.0
Insurance and financial services (b)0.71.40.31.00.31.1
All groups1.31.51.31.31.51.8

(a) New dwelling purchase by owner-occupiers are included in the CPI but excluded from the Selected Living Cost Indexes.
(b) 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

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.

Back to top of the page