The consumer price index (CPI) rose 3.6 per cent in the 12 months to April 2024, according to the latest monthly CPI indicator from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
The increase in annual inflation in April is up from 3.5 per cent in March.
“Inflation has been relatively stable over the past five months, although this is the second month in a row where annual inflation has had a small increase,” Michelle Marquardt, ABS head of prices statistics, said.
The most significant contributors to the April annual rise were housing (+4.9 per cent), food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.8 per cent), alcohol and tobacco (+6.5 per cent), and transport (+4.2 per cent).
“CPI inflation is often impacted by items with volatile price changes like automotive fuel, fruit and vegetables, and holiday travel. It can be helpful to exclude these items from the headline CPI to provide a view of underlying inflation.
“When excluding these volatile items from the monthly CPI indicator, the annual rise to April was steady at 4.1 per cent. Annual inflation excluding volatile items remains higher than for the monthly CPI indicator,” Marquardt said.
Housing rose 4.9 per cent in the 12 months to April, down from 5.2 per cent in March, while rents increased 7.5 per cent for the year, reflecting a tight rental market and low vacancy rates across the country.
New dwelling prices rose 4.9 per cent over the year with builders passing higher costs for labour and materials onto the consumer. Annual price growth for new dwellings has been around 5 per cent since August 2023.
Electricity prices rose 4.2 per cent in the 12 months to April, while annual inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages rose to 3.8 per cent up from 3.5 per cent in March.
