Households whose main source of income was government payments recorded the largest rises in living costs this quarter, ABS head of prices statistics Sue-Ellen Luke\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was the largest quarterly rise recorded for households that rely on a pension or other government benefits since the series began in 2007, and the largest for age pensioners and other government transfer recipients since September 2000.<\/p>\n
Housing, health and transport costs were the main contributors to the rise in living costs across all households, Ms Luke said.<\/p>\n
All household types recorded rises in housing of at least 3.5 per cent, caused by higher electricity costs after households used up rebates from the Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief Fund<\/a>.<\/p>\n Medical and hospital services rose across all household types, while the cost of pharmaceuticals rose for most \u2014 the expected result of a cyclical reduction in who qualifies for subsidies under the Medicare Safety Net and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).<\/p>\n The safety net thresholds for both the PBS and Medicare are reset on January 1 each year.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a sharp increase in fuel prices was cited as the main driver behind higher transport costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Automotive fuel prices increased mainly due to a large increase in March, reflecting the impact of the conflict in the Middle East on fuel prices,” Ms Luke said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The rise in March followed small falls in automotive fuel prices in January and February, leading to a moderate rise for the March quarter of around 5 per cent across the household types.”<\/p>\n Monthly fuel prices increased by 32.8 per cent in March, according to ABS data.<\/p>\n But the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) says the financial impact on most households has been less than what might be perceived.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The additional spending on fuel since the start of the conflict amounts to less than 1 per cent of total household income over that period, although for some households it will be a higher share,” the RBA’s Statement on Monetary Policy published yesterday said.<\/p>\n Higher fuel costs were cited by the ABS as a key factor in increased household spending during March<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Household spending rose strongly in March, driven by a 5.1 per cent rise in transport costs as fuel prices climbed in response to the conflict in the Middle East,” ABS head of business statistics Tom Lay said.<\/p>\n Monthly fuel prices increased by 32.8 per cent in March, according to ABS data. (AAP: George Chan)<\/p>\n Fuel prices spiked during the first week of March, and prices peaked at the end of the month.<\/p>\n The bureau estimated the volume of fuel purchased by households fell 1.3 per cent last month.<\/p>\n A fuel excise cut implemented by the government in April (outside the latest Living Cost Indexes reference period) relieved some pressure on households.\u00a0<\/p>\n More pain flagged for mortgage holders<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2d189e01d56a0be23737da05d65e94c5.jpeg\")
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