Aussies from all walks of life have seen their living costs rise in the last three months, according to new data.
Those on pensions or government funding saw their living costs increase by 1 per cent in the June quarter.
This came off the back of rises of up to 1.6 per cent earlier in the year.
Most Aussies weren’t safe from being hit by rising costs. (Louie Douvis)
The data, which was collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), suggested there were three main drivers of the cost of living increases.
“Higher Housing and Food and non-alcoholic beverages prices over the year contributed to rises in annual living costs across all household types,” Michelle Marquardt from the ABS said.
It is suggested the rising price of fruit and vegetables were to blame, as reduced supply of popular items such as blueberries, strawberries and cucumbers meant prices rose.
The disparity between how different Aussies were affected comes down to declining interest rates.
“Mortgage interest charges fell 1.4 per cent in the quarter for employee households, as banks cut interest rates for both variable and new fixed rate home loans following the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to lower the cash rate target in February 2025,” Marquardt said.
“Employee households had the smallest rise in living costs of all household types this quarter.
“The last time this happened was in the March 2022 quarter, before mortgage interest rates began rising.”