Battlers cut back on food
Victoria worst hit by cost pressures
VICTORIANS are experiencing the most acute cost of living pressure in the nation, a deep dive study into the state of household finances by supermarket giant Coles has found.
The study, which combines a range of government measures with Coles shopping basket data, found Victoria has the largest percentage of local government areas experiencing the highest cost of living pressure across Australia.
Country areas are feeling the greatest squeeze with more than two-thirds of the state’s rural and regional local government areas reporting significant cost of living pressure and changing spending habits accordingly.
The 171-page report found households are cutting back on fresh food, switching to cheaper private-label products and spending more time seeking out bargains amid skyrocketing energy bills, hefty home loan payments and stagnant wages.
Yarriambiack in the state’s northwest, Buloke in the west, Central Gold Fields, Northern Grampians and Mount Alexander emerged with the state’s highest cost of living scores.
Households in Greater Dandenong and Wyndham posted the highest cost of living scores within Melbourne.
An analysis of shopping baskets showed that in Dandenong households bought 5 per cent less fresh food and meat than the national average while their purchases of cheaper packaged items was 12 per cent more than the average.
The proportion of items sold in Dandenong that were Coles “everyday low price range” was 20 per cent, well above the national average.
The internal Coles report tracked the cost of living from 2011 to the end of 2015, meaning the most recent hikes in power bills are not included.
“While the majority of households have responded to cost of living trends by reducing their consumption of nonessential goods, such as entertainment and travel, some households have also reduced their consumption of essential goods such as groceries and transport,” the report concludes.
The report, commissioned by Coles, combines information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling as well as spending data collected by the supermarket chain.
It assigned every local government area in the nation a cost of living score built upon household income and expenditure levels.
The score also incorporates measures such as the number of households that have deliberately missed a bill payment or switched to cheaper food products in their weekly shop.
It found 23 out of 80 local government areas in Victoria fell into the top 20 per cent for cost of living pressure, the highest percentage of any state of territory.
Close to 60 per cent of Victoria’s local government areas fell into the top two cost of living score ranges. Tasmania was next with 27.5 per cent of its local government areas falling into the top score range.