From the happy idiots:
Domestic Economic Conditions
Members commenced their discussion of the domestic economy by noting that the June quarter inflation data had been in line with the Bank’s expectations and provided further confirmation that inflation had increased since 2016. Underlying inflation was ½ per cent in the June quarter and headline inflation was only slightly lower. Both Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation and measures of underlying inflation were running at a little under 2 per cent in year-ended terms.
Non-tradables inflation had reached its highest year-ended rate in two years in the June quarter, boosted by rises in tobacco excise and utilities prices. Market services inflation had increased since 2016, but remained low; around half of total costs in the market services sector are labour costs, and these had been subdued over recent years. Inflation in the costs of constructing a new dwelling had also increased over the prior year in all capital cities other than Perth and Adelaide. In contrast, rents had been increasing at a below-average pace in Sydney and Melbourne, had been falling in Perth and had been broadly stable in most other capital cities.
