Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia

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
December 2024
Released
5/02/2025
  • Next Release 7/05/2025
    Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia, March 2025
  • Next Release 6/08/2025
    Selected Living Cost Indexes, Australia, June 2025
  • View all releases

Key statistics

  • The Living Cost Indexes (LCIs) recorded movements between -0.1% and 0.4% in the December 2024 quarter.
  • Alcohol and tobacco, Recreation and culture and Insurance and financial services were the main positive contributors across all LCIs. These increases were offset by falls in Electricity and Automotive fuel prices.
  • Over the twelve months to the December 2024 quarter, the LCIs rose between 2.5% and 4.0%.

What's new this quarter

Correction to Child care costs in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Selected Living Cost Indexes (SLCIs)

As explained in the ABS media statement released on 19 November 2024, Correction to child care costs in the CPI, out-of-pocket child care costs have been corrected as part of compiling the December 2024 quarter CPI and SLCIs. The ABS made errors in estimating the impact of the Government’s reforms to the Child Care Subsidy when they took effect in July 2023.

The correction applied this quarter meant the quarterly movement for the Employee LCI was 0.07 percentage points lower than it would otherwise have been without the correction. For the Other government transfer recipient LCI the quarterly movement was 0.04 percentage points lower, and for Pensioner and beneficiary LCI the quarterly movement was 0.02 percentage points lower than it would otherwise have been. The Age pensioner and Self-funded retiree LCIs were unaffected by the correction.

Update to the SLCI weights next quarter

The SLCI weights are updated each year to ensure the weights used in the SLCI basket reflect contemporary household spending patterns. The weights will next be updated in the March 2025 quarter.

Overview

Quarterly living costs

All five LCIs recorded smaller or the same change in living costs from the September 2024 quarter

While prices continued to rise for most goods and services, these increases were largely offset by falls in Electricity and Automotive fuel prices, leading to all household types recording their smallest quarterly movement since the June 2020 quarter. 

Employee and Self-funded retiree households experienced rises in living costs this quarter. Households whose principal source of income is from government payments saw falls or no change in living costs from the previous quarter.

Alcohol and tobacco, Recreation and culture and Insurance and financial services rose across all household types.

  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).

Alcohol and tobacco rose driven by Tobacco due to the flow on effects of the 5% annual excise indexation and biannual AWOTE indexation applied from 1 September. 

Recreation and culture rose across all household types due to increases in Domestic holiday travel and accommodation driven by higher demand during the school holiday period. 

Insurance and financial services rose due to increases in Insurance and Mortgage interest charges. Insurance prices rose due to higher premiums for house, home contents and motor vehicle insurance, however growth has moderated reflecting easing reinsurance and replacement and repair costs. 

Mortgage interest charges rose due to higher mortgage debt levels and the continued rollover of expired fixed rate to higher variable rate mortgages. 

The following graph shows the share of fixed and variable rate home loans for owner occupied loans. The share of fixed rate home loan commitments has continued to decline in the December 2024 quarter, while the share of variable rate home loans has continued to increase reflecting the continued roll-over of expired fixed rate to higher variable rate home loans.

  1. Shares of fixed and variable rate home loans have been calculated using data obtained from banks to compile the Mortgage interest charges series.

All household types recorded falls in Housing, due to the 2024-25 Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief Fund (EBRF) rebates reducing Electricity prices. Differences in the roll out schedule of rebates led to households in some states and territories receiving catch up payments this quarter. More details on the impact and timing of these rebates are provided in the latest Consumer Price Index publication. 

Transport fell across all LCIs. This was driven by a fall in Automotive fuel prices reflecting lower global oil prices. A fall in Urban transport fares also contributed to the fall in Transport, due to various State government cost of living initiatives for public transport fares. 

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

Living costs for Other government transfer recipient (+0.0%) households did not change this quarter, while Age pensioner (-0.1%) households recorded a small fall. The Pensioner and Beneficiary LCI (PBLCI), which is a combination of both Other government transfer recipients and Age pensioner households recorded a 0.1% fall, down from a 0.3% rise in the September 2024 quarter. Households represented by these indexes source their principal income from government payments. 

These households recorded relatively larger falls in Electricity compared to Employee and Self-funded retiree households. The fall was driven by the 2024-25 Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief Fund (EBRF) rebates which have reduced electricity bills for all households in all capital cities. Concession households[1] have been more heavily impacted by the rebates due to having relatively smaller electricity bill sizes. 

These households were also impacted by an increase in Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) this quarter. From 20 September 2024, the maximum rate for CRA increased by 10% in addition to the usual biannual CPI indexation on 20 March and 20 September each year. Increases to CRA have reduced the amount of rent payable by eligible recipients. The September 2024 quarter results showed a partial impact of the CRA changes, with the remaining impact being reflected in the December 2024 quarter. 

Government payment recipient households also experienced falls in Health costs this quarter, due to an increase in the proportion of these households reaching the Pharmaceuticals Benefits Scheme (PBS) safety net threshold this quarter, reducing their out of pocket expenses. 

[1] Concession households are households who are eligible for existing electricity concessions based on the Government payment they receive. 

Employee households continue to record the highest quarterly rise in living costs

Living costs for Employee households, whose primary source of income is wages and salaries, rose 0.4% over the December 2024 quarter, down from a 0.6% rise in the previous quarter. This is the third consecutive quarter of slower growth in quarterly living costs. 

Mortgage interest charges make up a higher proportion of expenditure for Employee households. Mortgage interest charges rose 1.7% due to higher mortgage debt levels and the continued roll-over of expired fixed-rate to higher variable rate home loans. This represents a moderation in growth compared to the previous quarter (+2.7%).

The rise in living costs for Employee households this quarter was offset by a large fall in Electricity prices and fall in Automotive fuel. However, these households recorded the smallest fall in Housing costs this quarter across the household types, due to an offsetting rise in Rents. 

Increases in living costs for Self-funded retirees remain unchanged from the September 2024 quarter

Self-funded retiree households, whose primary source of income is superannuation or property income, rose 0.3% this quarter, unchanged from 0.3% in the September 2024 quarter. 

Recreation and culture was the largest contributor to the rise for Self-funded retiree households. 

Domestic holiday travel and accommodation prices rose this quarter due to higher demand during the school holiday period driving up prices for airfares and accommodation. Holiday travel and accommodation makes up a higher proportion of expenditure for Self-funded retiree households than it does for other types of households.

The rise in living costs for Self-funded retiree households this quarter was offset by falls in Electricity and Automotive fuel prices. 

Annual living costs

Increases in annual living costs continued to ease across all household types

Over the past twelve months, the five LCIs rose between 2.5% to 4.0%, easing from rises between 2.8% to 4.7% in the September 2024 quarter. 

The main contributors to the moderation in annual living costs were large falls in Electricity and Automotive fuel, as well as an easing in growth for Insurance premiums, Mortgage interest charges and Food prices.

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

Employee households continued to record the largest annual rise in living costs of all household types, rising 4.0% over the year. However, this is down from 4.7% in the previous quarter, and down from a peak of 9.6% in the June 2023 quarter. 

The most significant contributor to increases in Employee households’ living costs was Mortgage interest charges. Mortgage interest charges rose 14.7% over the year, continuing the downward trend in mortgage interest charges inflation from a peak of 91.6% in the June 2023 quarter. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) decision to keep the cash rate on hold since November 2023 and the slowdown in the rollover of low fixed rate loans into higher variable rate loans led to the easing in annual growth of Mortgage Interest charges.

Higher insurance premiums and food prices were the main contributors across the remaining household types

The remaining four household types recorded annual rises in living costs between 2.5% and 3.2%. Insurance and financial services and Food and non-alcoholic beverages were the main contributors across the household types. 

Higher premiums for motor vehicles, house and home contents insurance over the past twelve months have resulted in strong annual growth in Insurance across all household types. However, annual growth in Insurance has moderated this quarter due to an easing in reinsurance and replacement and repair costs.

Age pensioner and Self-funded retiree households recorded the weakest annual rises in living costs of all household types, rising 2.5% over the year. Mortgage interest charges and Rents, which rose over the year, make up a smaller proportion of spending for these household types.

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

Insurance and financial services and Food and non-alcoholic beverages were the main contributors to the rises in annual living costs across most household types.

Household typeMain annual contributors
Pensioner and beneficiary (PBLCI)Insurance and financial services (a) (+12.1%)
Alcohol and tobacco (+8.0%)
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.0%)
Recreation and culture (+3.3%)
EmployeeInsurance and financial services (a) (+13.4%)
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.0%)
Alcohol and tobacco (+6.0%)
Recreation and culture (+3.3%)
Age pensionerInsurance and financial services (a) (+11.3%)
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.0%)
Health (+4.5%)
Recreation and culture (+3.6%)
Other government transfer recipientInsurance and financial services (a) (+12.7%)
Alcohol and tobacco (+8.7%)
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+2.9%)
Recreation and culture (+3.3%)
Self-funded retireeInsurance and financial services (a) (+11.3%)
Recreation and culture (+3.4%)
Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.0%)
Health (+4.3%)
  1. Mortgage interest charges is included in Insurance and financial services.

Contributors to quarterly change

Quarterly percentage change, Commodity group - September quarter 2024 to December quarter 2024
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 beverages0.10.20.10.10.10.2
Alcohol and tobacco3.42.32.53.91.52.4
Clothing and footwear0.20.20.30.10.20.1
Housing (a)-2.1-0.5-2.2-1.7-2.0-0.7
Furnishings, household equipment and services-0.2-0.20.0-0.20.2-0.2
Health-1.20.0-0.9-1.6-0.3-0.2
Transport-0.8-0.8-0.8-0.9-0.5-0.7
Communication0.50.50.40.50.40.5
Recreation and culture1.41.51.41.21.91.5
Education-0.10.00.00.00.00.0
Insurance and financial services (b)1.11.41.01.20.90.8
All groups-0.10.4-0.10.00.30.2
  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

Time Series Spreadsheets

Data files

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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