Petrol, interest rates drive costs up

Te Whanganui-a-Tara - The three middle-to-high spending household groups experienced the highest increase in annual living costs of all of the 13 household groups, in the March 2022 quarter.

Their cost of living was 6.9 percent higher than in the March 2021 quarter, Stats NZ said today.

Higher prices for petrol and interest payments contributed most to the increase.

The middle-spending household group spends about 5.2 percent of their expenditure on petrol so were most impacted by higher petrol prices.

This compares with 4.6 percent for the average household and 4.0 percent for the highest-spending household group.

The highest-spending household group spends about 7.3 percent of their expenditure on interest payments.

This compares with 4.6 percent for the average household and 2.0 percent for the lowest-spending household group.

Beneficiary and lowest-spending households experienced the smallest increase in cost of living of all of the household groups at 6.0 percent in the March 2022 quarter compared with the March 2021 quarter, Stats NZ says.

The beneficiary households’ cost of living increase was mainly influenced by higher prices for housing and household utilities, with increasing prices for rental housing.

Rising rent prices impact beneficiary households more as they typically spend almost a third of their expenditure on rent.

Higher prices for petrol, rentals for housing, and mortgage interest payments were the main drivers of the increase for Māori households.

The other expenditure group, which includes mortgage interest payments, or the food group were the main contributor to the increase in the cost of living for every group in the March 2022 quarter compared with the December 2021 quarter.

The other expenditure group was influenced by higher prices for interest payments, including mortgage interest, which increased 13 percent for the average household in the March 2022 quarter compared with the December 2021 quarter.

Each quarter, the household living-cost indexes (HLPI) measures how inflation affects 13 different household groups, while the consumers price index (CPI) measures how inflation affects New Zealand as a whole.

The all households group, or the average household, represents all private New Zealand-resident households. Lowest-spending, middle-spending, and highest-spending groups relates to expenditure quintile one, three and five.