Monthly Consumer Price Index Indicator, January 2023

Nov 06, 2023

Detail

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

Detail

Monthly data series for the Garments sub-group have been added. This sub-group includes monthly updated data for women's and men's clothing.

Nov 21 to Nov 22

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Dec 21 to Dec 22

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Jan 22 to Jan 23

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*Volatile items are Fruit and vegetables and Automotive fuel

The monthly CPI indicator annual movement rose 7.4% in January, down from 8.4% in December.

The annual movement for CPI excluding volatile items (i.e. excludes Fruit and vegetables and Automotive fuel) rose 7.2% in January, down from 8.1% in December.

*Volatile items are Fruit and vegetables and Automotive fuel

Annual inflation remains elevated reflected in the broad-based nature of price increases across all CPI groups over the year.

New dwelling prices rose 14.7% in the year to January as builders passed through higher costs for labour and materials. Fewer grant payments from the Federal Government's HomeBuilder program and similar state-based housing construction grants also contributed to the rise in new dwelling prices over the year.

The rate of price growth has continued to ease compared to the record high increase of 21.7% in July 2022. This reflects a softening in new demand and improvements in the supply of materials.

Rent prices increased further this month from an annual rise of 4.1% in December to 4.8% in January, reflecting low vacancy rates and a tight rental market.

Over the twelve months to January, Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 8.2%, with price rises seen across all categories. These increases reflect factors including high input costs such as wages, freight and supply disruption.

The main contributors to the rise were Food products n.e.c. (+11.1%), Bread and cereal products (+12.6%) and Dairy and related products (+14.5%).

Fruit and vegetable prices rose 5.1% in the year to January, down from 9.8% in December.

In monthly terms, Fruit and vegetable prices fell 2.9% in January, reflecting improved supply as the recovery continues from the wet weather events in 2022.

Holiday travel and accommodation rose 17.8% in the year to January, down from 29.3% in December. High demand continues to impact prices for both Domestic holiday travel and accommodation and International holiday travel and accommodation.

Automotive fuel prices rose 7.5% in the year to January, down from 10.8% in December. While fuel prices remain elevated, the rate of price growth has continued to ease since a peak of 43.2% in the year to June 2022.

Garments rose 2.8% in the year to January, following a rise of 7.2% in December 2022. The annual increase is in response to strong consumer demand and higher supply costs such as freight and fuel.

In monthly terms, Garments fell -5.0%, following larger than usual discounting of summer stock at the start of the year.

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2022

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2021

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Change

The monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) indicator was developed to provide inflation data at a higher frequency for use by governments, economists and the wider community. The quarterly CPI remains the principal measure of household inflation.

The monthly CPI indicator is derived using available data from the quarterly CPI. The ABS collects prices for the CPI in a range of frequencies including monthly, quarterly, and annual. The frequency of price collection is determined by how often prices change. Where price change occurs frequently, such as for food and petrol, monthly price data is collected. Where price change is less frequent, such as for restaurant meals and hairdressers, price data is available quarterly. In some cases, prices are collected once per year where it is known prices only change annually. This is the case for some education fees, property rates and private health insurance.

For this reason, the composition of the monthly CPI basket varies across the three months of the quarter, details of the monthly coverage composition are detailed in Table 1 below.

* n.e.c Not elsewhere classified

Monthly CPI indicator rose 6.8% in the year to August, 29 September 2022

Introducing a monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) indicator for Australia, 16 August 2022

Introducing a monthly CPI indicator, 16 August 2022

ABS to release new monthly CPI Indicator, 10 August 2022

New data source

What the CPI Rents series measures

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 (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.

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