Mortgage bills and insurance pushing up cost of living

Larry SchlesingerDecember 8, 2020

Mortgage, insurance and credit card costs have risen by nearly double the rate of food, general housing bills, alcohol and tobacco over the past year, according to the ABS.

Mortgage payments and general insurance premiums have risen by 10.9% over the past year to June while food has increased by 5.8% and clothing by just 1.1%.

Alcohol and tobacco costs rose 5.6%, and housing bills and education costs both increased by 5.8%.

Mortgage costs have outpaced insurance and credit card increases.

Overall the cost of living has increased by 4.5% over the past 12 months, easing up from 4.9% recorded in March.

For the June 2011 quarter, the cost of living increased by 0.9%.

According to the ABS, the inclusion of mortgage interest and consumer credit charges in the analytical living cost indexes have had a significant impact on employee households

Over the past 10 years living costs for households have risen by 40%.

Larry Schlesinger

Larry Schlesinger was a property writer at Property Observer

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