Australian Economy Australian interest rates

It’s official: Australia’s inflation woes are home grown

Tuesday 1 September 2026

I argued last week that Australia’s globally high inflation is homegrown, as illustrated by services inflation tracking at 4.1% in the year to July, well above the broader trimmed mean inflation rate of 3.6%.

Housing inflation is posing a particular problem for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). It comprises nearly one quarter of the CPI basket and rose by a hot 5.0% in the year to July, helping to drive up overall underlying inflation:

Chart from Justin Fabo at Antipodean Macro

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.