The Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Australia saw an annual increase of 4.3% in November 2023, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).  

The increase was led by significant rises in the costs of housing, food and non-alcoholic beverages, insurance and financial services, and alcohol and tobacco. 

The CPI for food and non-alcoholic beverage prices experienced a 4.6% increase over the year to November 2023, a slight decrease from the 5.3% annual rise recorded in October.  

The annual inflation rate for alcohol and tobacco went up by 6.4%, while housing costs rose by 6.6%. 

The rental market showed a substantial increase, with rents climbing 7.1% over the period.  

This indicates low vacancy rates and a tight rental market.  

ABS prices statistics head Michelle Marquardt stated: "This month’s annual increase of 4.3% is down from the 4.9% rise in October and is the smallest annual increase since January 2022. 

"CPI inflation is often impacted by items with volatile price changes like automotive fuel, fruit and vegetables, and holiday travel. It can be helpful to exclude these items from the headline CPI to provide a view of underlying inflation.  

“When excluding these volatile items from the monthly CPI indicator, the annual rise in November was 4.8% lower than the annual rise of 5.1% in October.”  

ABS also highlighted that Australian retail turnover experienced a 2% seasonally adjusted increase during November 2023. 

The rise was attributed to increased spending on discretionary goods, bolstered by Black Friday sales.  

During the month, household goods retailing saw the most significant increase at 7.5%, followed by department stores at 4.2%, clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing at 2.7%, and other retailing at 1.1%.