Monthly Consumer Price Index Indicator

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The monthly CPI indicator is a measure of inflation and includes statistics about prices for categories of households expenditure

Reference period
September 2023
Released
25/10/2023

Key statistics

  • The monthly CPI indicator rose 5.6% in the 12 months to September.

  • The most significant price rises were Housing (+7.2%), Transport (+9.4%), and Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+4.7%).

Main features

Weighted average of eight capital cities, annual movement
 Jul 22 to Jul 23 % changeAug 22 to Aug 23 % changeSep 22 to Sep 23 % change
All groups monthly CPI4.95.25.6
Food and non-alcoholic beverages5.64.44.7
     Bread and cereal products9.910.48.9
     Meat & seafood2.42.61.7
     Dairy and related products12.710.18.0
     Fruit & vegetables-5.4-8.3-5.4
     Food products n.e.c.8.36.96.8
     Non-alcoholic beverages6.85.04.9
Alcohol and tobacco4.54.45.8
     Alcohol5.04.75.0
     Tobacco3.63.77.5
Clothing and footwear1.51.5-0.1
    Garments0.40.4-2.2
Housing7.36.67.2
     Rents7.67.87.6
     New dwelling purchases by owner-occupiers5.94.84.9
     Electricity15.712.718.0
     Gas and other household fuels13.912.912.7
Furnishings, household equipment and services4.34.02.3
Health5.25.25.4
Transport0.37.49.4
     Automotive fuel-7.613.919.7
Communications0.31.61.2
Recreation and culture4.13.93.5
     Holiday travel and accommodation5.36.61.9
Education5.25.54.8
Insurance and financial services8.58.88.6
CPI analytical series   
       Seasonally adjusted4.95.55.5
       CPI excluding volatile items** and holiday travel5.85.55.5
       Annual Trimmed mean5.65.65.4

** = Volatile items are Fruit and vegetables and Automotive fuel

Monthly Overview

The monthly CPI indicator rose 5.6% in the 12 months to September, up from a rise of 5.2% in August.

The annual movement for the monthly CPI indicator excluding volatile items and holiday travel rose 5.5% in September, in line with the rise of 5.5% in August. This series excludes Fruit and vegetables, Automotive fuel, and Holiday travel and accommodation.

Annual trimmed mean inflation was 5.4% in September, down from the rise of 5.6% in August.

*Volatile items are Fruit and vegetables and Automotive fuel

New dwellings and Rents

New dwelling prices rose 4.9% in the 12 months to September, reflecting high labour and material costs. Despite the slight increase from last month’s annual movement of 4.8%, the rate of price growth has eased since last year reflecting improvements in the supply of materials and subdued new demand.

Rent prices increased 7.6% in the 12 months to September 2023, down from 7.8% in August. In monthly terms, Rent prices rose 0.3% in September, down from 0.7% rise in August. The increase in rents this month was moderated by changes to the Commonwealth Rent Assistance scheme. From 20 September the maximum rate available for rent assistance increased by 15% on top of the regular biannual indexation. While the scheme applied for only part of the September month, it reduced the overall increase in rents by 0.4 percentage points. This change will also flow through to next month’s Rents index. Rental price growth continues to reflect strong demand for rental properties and tight rental markets.

Electricity

Electricity prices rose 18.0% in the 12 months to September 2023, up from a rise of 12.7% in August. The increase in the annual movement was driven by annual price reviews in July, combined with base effects from the large monthly price fall in September 2022 no longer contributing to the annual movement.

Electricity prices rose 0.2% in the month of September 2023, after a fall of 1.3% in August.

The Electricity series was updated with monthly prices from October 2021 onwards. Annual movements prior to October 2022 are calculated using base periods where electricity prices were updated quarterly in month 3, with carry forward imputation used in the months where prices were not updated.

Energy Bill Relief Fund rebates introduced in July 2023 continue to reduce electricity bills for concession households in Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra and for all households in Brisbane and Perth this month.

In addition to concession households, households newly eligible for the Energy Bill relief fund will receive rebates in Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart, Darwin and Canberra. It is anticipated that rebates for these households will be reflected in electricity prices from October 2023. For Melbourne, rebates for newly eligible households will be reflected from November 2023.

The following graph shows the Electricity series including and excluding government electricity rebates.

June 2022, index = 100

  • a) Introduction of the WA $400 household electricity credit
  • b) Introduction of the ACT $50 rebate for concession households
  • c) Introduction of the QLD $175 Cost of Living rebate
  • d) Introduction of the TAS $119 Winter Bill Buster electricity credit
  • e) Introduction of the Energy Bill Relief Fund for concession households in NSW, SA, TAS, NT and ACT, and for all households in QLD and WA. Introduction of additional ACT $50 rebate for concession households.
  • f) Introduction of the Energy Bill Relief Fund in August 2023 for concession households in VIC

Gas and other household fuels

Gas prices rose 12.7% in the 12 months to September, down slightly from a rise of 12.9% in August. The increase in gas prices is due to price reviews in January 2023 and July 2023, reflecting higher wholesale gas prices. In monthly terms, Gas prices had a small rise of 0.1% in September, down from the rise of 0.4% in August.

The Gas series was updated with monthly prices from October 2021 onwards. Annual movements prior to October 2022 are calculated using base periods where gas prices were updated quarterly in month 3, with carry forward imputation used in the months where prices were not updated.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages

Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices rose 4.7% in the 12 months to September, up from the rise of 4.4% in August. The main contributors were Food products n.e.c. (+6.8%) and Bread and cereal products (+8.9%). Fruit and vegetable prices were 5.4% lower compared to 12 months ago with improved weather conditions leading to increased supply.

In monthly terms, Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices fell 0.4%, driven by price falls for Fruit and vegetables (-3.1%), Meat and seafoods (-0.6%) and Dairy and related products (-0.5%).

Tobacco

Tobacco prices rose 7.5% in the 12 months to September. This is the highest annual increase since August 2021. In monthly terms, prices for Tobacco rose 4.8% in September 2023, up from the rise of 0.4% in August. The increase this month was driven the 5% annual tobacco excise indexation and biannual Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings increase, which were both applied on 1 September.

Automotive fuel

Automotive fuel prices rose 19.7% in the 12 months to September. This is the highest annual movement since July 2022. The increase in the annual movement was driven by higher global oil prices, which led to wholesale price rises in August and September 2023.

In monthly terms, Automotive fuel prices rose 3.3% in September, following a rise of 9.1% in August.

Holiday travel and accommodation

Holiday travel and accommodation prices rose 1.9% in the 12 months to September, down from 6.6% in August. This is the lowest annual rise since February 2022 and down from the peak of 29.3 in December 2022.

In monthly terms, Holiday travel and accommodation prices rose 4.3%, following a fall of 3.9% in August. This was driven by an increase in demand for both domestic and international holiday travel, in line with the school holiday period in September.

Child care

Child care prices fell 6.0% in the 12 months to September, due to a fall of 13.1% in the month of September. This fall in out-of-pocket costs was driven by the changes to the Child Care Subsidy (CCS) that came into effect from 10 July 2023. The increase in subsidy rate was partly offset by child care fee increases.

Child care is measured on a quarterly bases in the monthly CPI indicator. While the changes to the CCS came into effect in July, the changes were first captured in September in the monthly CPI indicator.

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Data explorer for the monthly CPI indicator.

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Detailed monthly data

Monthly Expenditure class data

About the monthly CPI indicator

What is the monthly CPI Indicator?

Introducing monthly indicators of underlying inflation

Articles

Measuring Rents in the CPI 

Using price indexes

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. 

Consistent with existing policy, the ABS does not comment on the use (or otherwise) of the price indexes we publish. However, it should be noted that the monthly CPI indicator may be routinely subject to revision, in contrast to the quarterly CPI which is only revised in exceptional circumstances.

Use of Price Indexes in Contracts 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

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) specific to the monthly CPI indicator can be found in the Information paper: Introducing a monthly CPI indicator for Australia FAQs 

In addition, the Frequently Asked Questions page has answers to a number of common questions to do with price indexes and the quarterly Consumer Price Index in particular.

Methodology

Scope

The monthly CPI indicator is a general measure of price change for goods and services purchased by Australian households.

Geography

Monthly data is published at the national level, derived as a weighted average of the eight capital cities.

Source

Prices are collected for a range of goods and services (the CPI basket) from a variety of retailers across the eight capital cities.

Collection method

Prices are collected in a range of frequencies including monthly, quarterly, and annually using: 

  • web-scraping
  • online and telephone collections from retailers
  • administrative data, including supermarket scanner data.

Concepts, sources and methods

Information about the data sources and methods used to compile the CPI is contained in the Consumer Price Index: Concepts, Sources and Methods.

History of changes

  • Partial update of CPI weights July 2023.
  • Monthly Gas series included June 2023.
  • Annual trimmed mean included April 2023.
  • Monthly Electricity included February 2023.
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