Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals that living expenses have surged for Australians over the past three months, irrespective of their background. In particular, those relying on pensions or government assistance experienced a 1 per cent rise in living costs during the June quarter, following earlier increases of up to 1.6 per cent earlier in the year.
Michelle Marquardt from the ABS indicated that the primary factors contributing to these rising costs were housing and food prices, particularly non-alcoholic beverages. The escalating prices of essential items, including fruit and vegetables, were driven by reduced supplies of popular produce such as blueberries, strawberries, and cucumbers.
The impact of these increases has varied among different demographics, largely due to changes in interest rates. Employee households, for instance, saw a decline in mortgage interest charges of 1.4 per cent in the same quarter. This was attributed to banks lowering interest rates for both variable and new fixed-rate home loans, following a reduction in the cash rate target by the Reserve Bank of Australia in February 2025. As a result, employee households recorded the smallest increase in living costs among all household types for this quarter, a trend not seen since March 2022, prior to rising mortgage interest rates.
Overall, the data underscores the widespread financial strain experienced by Australians, while also illustrating the complexities of economic factors influencing living costs across various household groups.