Household inflation: Superannuitants get hammered, all households face rising prices

Inflation for households includes some of the goods measured in the Consumers Price Index. Photo / Steven McNicholl

New household inflation stats have shed light on who's getting hit hardest by runaway prices.

Stats NZ has released the household living costs price index for the September quarter - and it showed the elderly had an especially tough late winter and early spring.

Inflation in the three months ending September 30 was 2.1 per cent for all households. If that rate was experienced every quarter, annual inflation would be 8.67 per cent.

Superannuitants experienced inflation of 2.4 per cent in the September quarter.

And Stats NZ data showed the more you spent, the higher the inflation rate.

For the highest-expenditure household group, quarterly inflation was 2.4 per cent, but for the lowest-expenditure group, it was 1.9 per cent.

For Māori, quarterly household inflation was 1.9 per cent and for beneficiaries, quarterly household inflation was 1.5 per cent.

Year-on-year data showed big spenders, the elderly and Māori were hit hardest.

For the highest-expenditure household group, inflation was up 8.8 per cent compared to September 2021.

For Māori, it was 7.7 per cent over the year, and for superannuitants was 6.8 per cent.

The data release comes amid ongoing political and economic debate about the impacts of inflation here and abroad.

And the household living costs data (HLPI) comes one day after data showed sluggish nationwide population growth and a decline in inner-city populations.

Stats NZ said the HLPI used population group-specific expenditure patterns from the Household Economic Survey.

It said the HLPI differed from the Consumers Price Index in two main ways.

First, it said treatment of owner-occupied housing and interest payments better aligned with individual household experience.

And second, it said the method used for HLPI better reflected the inflation a typical household experienced.