{"id":565867,"date":"2026-07-29T21:50:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/565867\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T21:50:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:50:09","slug":"the-4100-hammer-blow-crushing-australians-everywhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/565867\/","title":{"rendered":"The $4100 hammer blow crushing Australians everywhere"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inflation figures released on Wednesday<\/a> might have carried with them a welcome surprise for borrowers, but news of a likely interest rate<\/a> reprieve will do nothing to ease the price pressures that were already crushing households.<\/p>\n

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed headline inflation eased from 4.0 to 3.8 per cent in the 12 months to June, while the Reserve Bank\u2019s<\/a> preferred measure of underlying inflation remained steady at 3.6 per cent.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/p>\n

Australians everywhere have been buffeted by a string of price shocks.\u00a0Luis Enrique Ascui<\/p>\n

Both numbers were lower \u2013 and therefore better \u2013 than economists had forecast and so were almost immediately followed by a suite of welcome developments.<\/p>\n

Market pricing for an August rate hike plunged from about 20 per cent to just 3 per cent.<\/p>\n

The local share market surged to a five-month-high.<\/p>\n

Economists were just about unanimous: better-than-expected inflation means no rate hike in 12 days\u2019 time. Some \u2013 those at Westpac and AMP \u2013 U-turned on their previous forecasts of an August increase. <\/p>\n

So, happy days, right?<\/p>\n

Not quite.<\/p>\n

Regardless of whether you\u2019re looking at core or headline figures, inflation remains far too high for anyone\u2019s liking, far beyond the RBA\u2019s 2-3 per cent target.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep in mind that inflation is not low, it\u2019s only lower than initially feared,\u201d AMP economists Diana Mousina and My Bui said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInflation is still far from the 2.5 per cent target which is a problem, and there is still a risk that it goes up again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those price hikes<\/a> might have stopped accelerating, but they\u2019re not disappearing. <\/p>\n

Mortgage holders have already absorbed three rate hikes this year into their repayments, and the end of the federal government\u2019s fuel excise discount on Sunday \u2013 inconveniently as oil prices have been bubbling up as tensions between the US and Iran escalate \u2013 is just another hip-pocket blow.<\/p>\n

According to Zyft finance expert Joel Gibson, it\u2019s a combined $4100 blow for the average Australian household.<\/p>\n

\u201cAussies were spending $178 per week on groceries in August 2025, but with [Wednesday\u2019s] CPI figures in mind, inflation equates to another $6 a week to the trolley, or about $305 across the course of the coming year,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn top of supermarket inflation, Australian home owners are still absorbing the full impact of this year\u2019s cumulative cash rate increases. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor a $600,000 mortgage, this year\u2019s three cash rate hikes have added around $272 to monthly repayments \u2013 or $3265 over the next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you combine rising groceries, higher energy bills, insurance increases, and mortgage hikes, the average Australian household is standing to shell out an additional $4110 over the course of this year compared to last.\u201d<\/p>\n

That could yet get worse.<\/p>\n

\"Reserve<\/p>\n

Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock may have little choice but to hike interest rates again later this year if Wednesday\u2019s inflation reprieve is only temporary.\u00a0Louie Douvis<\/p>\n

RBA Governor Michele Bullock was abundantly clear on Tuesday<\/a> she and her monetary policy board won\u2019t shy away from another rate hike if it\u2019s required.<\/p>\n

While economists aren\u2019t expecting that, they certainly haven\u2019t discounted it, and financial markets have priced in a better than 80 per cent change of higher interest rates by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Canstar\u2019s Sally Tindall notes the RBA is \u201cwalking a tightrope\u201d \u2013 and there are serious consequences at play for household budgets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe longer the problem persists, the harder it is to shift, with the governor yesterday [on Tuesday] that \u2018credibility is hard won and easily lost\u2019,\u201d Tindall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA pause in August looks like the most probable outcome, however, borrowers should keep a buffer in their budgets just in case.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother 0.25 percentage-point hike would add $92 a month to a $600,000 mortgage with 25 years remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next board meeting will be a line-ball decision, not a slam dunk, and borrowers need to be prepared for a hike just in case the ticking clock wins out.\u201d<\/p>\n

The RBA will hand down its next rates decision on August 11.<\/p>\n

The information provided on this website is general in nature only and does not constitute personal financial advice. The information has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information on this website you should consider the appropriateness of the information having regard to your objectives, financial situation and needs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inflation figures released on Wednesday might have carried with them a welcome surprise for borrowers, but news of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[114,184,85,46],"class_list":["post-565867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}