Monthly Consumer Price Index Statement

24 Feb

min read

National Head of Corporate Marketing & Communications

Mitchy Koper

Monthly Consumer Price Index Statement

24 Feb 2026

min read

Following today's release of the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) by the ABS, the following statement can be attributed to Oliver Hume Chief Economist, Matt Bell.

‍

Property markets won’t be moved too much by today’s CPI results. Underlying inflation ticked up from 3.3% to 3.4% and headline inflation stayed steady at 3.8%, both slightly higher than market expectations but in line with the RBA’s last set of forecasts.

‍

The RBA will look at the figures with some satisfaction that it confirmed the February rate hike was clearly the right decision, but also worried that there were no real signs of any improvement toward its target band.

‍

The lack of any real improvement in inflation and an ongoing tight labour market probably locks in at least one more rate hike in the first half, and if there is no improvement soon in the inflation pulse, there could be more to come.

‍

For the moment, mortgage holders and potential purchasers are still 0.5% better off than the same time 12 months ago and will still be in a better position even with one more hike.

‍

We’ve seen some robust property numbers out since markets pivoted to expectations of rate increases in November last year. Auction clearance rates bounced back in January and February, house price growth has slowed marginally but remains positive, new home sales for January rose and even residential lending for the December quarter was strong.

‍

This inflation reading isn’t likely to derail these recent trends.

‍