Australia’s inflation rate rose 1.3% in the September 2025 quarter and 3.2% annually, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
ABS Head of Prices Statistics Michelle Marquardt said the increase in the consumer price index (CPI) in the three months ending 30 September was the highest quarterly rise since March 2023.
She said the largest contributors to this quarterly movement were electricity costs, which rose by 9% in the quarter and 23.6% year-on-year.
The 3.2% increase in annual inflation to the end of September 2025 quarter was up from 2.1% in the year to the end of June 2025 quarter.
“This is the highest annual inflation rate since the June 2024 quarter when annual inflation was 3.8%,” Marquardt said in a media release.
Annual trimmed mean inflation, the underlying rate which strips out large movements in items like food, was 3.0% in the latest three month period, up from 2.7% to the end of the June quarter and the first increase since December 2022.
This result was higher than market expectations of 2.8% year-on-year, which is expected to reduce the chances the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) lowers the official cash interest rate when it next meets in November.
The ABS said the main contributors to the quarterly CPI rise were housing (2.5%), recreation and culture (1.9%) and transport (1.2%) with electricity costs a significant contributor to the growth in housing inflation this quarter.
The two main contributors to the quarterly rise in electricity costs were:
- annual electricity price reviews from July 2025, and
- the timing of some rebates with some households not receiving extensions of the Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief Fund.
