Aussies struggle as costs mount
Millions of Australians are moving into share houses, skipping insurance and driving run-down cars to survive the shocking cost-of-living crisis, confronting new figures show.
Research taken across housing stress, insurance premiums and car costs reveal how Australians are compromising on key lifestyle choices to put food on the table.
It comes as a leading economist says the areas Australians are most feeling the heat of spiralling costs – housing, healthcare and services – are being driven up by domestic inflation and not global issues.
One in eight people surveyed said they had moved into a shared house to cut costs in the past year, while an estimated one million people could no longer afford their rent, data from Finder shows.
In a second survey, one in five people said they needed insurance in the past three years but were not insured or did not have suitable cover.
One in 10 said they have needed health insurance during the past three-year period and were forced to fork out an average of $225 out of pocket because they did not have cover.
Another 7 per cent did not have car insurance, which cost them an average of $497.
A third survey revealed a whopping 35 per cent of Australian motorists put off repairs – such as body damage, bald tyres and windscreen damage – due to financial stress in the past year and one in four avoided having their car serviced because they could not afford it.
The figures paint a stark picture of Australia’s cost-of-living crisis, which has persisted for a third year in a row.
In the two years between March 2021 and September 2023, insurance prices went up by a whopping 22.6 per cent – compared to 47 per cent in the decade between 2009 and 2019.
Tasmanian economist Saul Eslake said inflation figures showed goods prices starting to come down, driven by global supply chains stabilising in the aftermath of two wars, but domestic inflation was proving “stubborn”.
He predicted Australians would be paying more for insurance, housing and healthcare for some time but could feel a reprieve in goods inflation and electricity prices in the second half of the year, while interest rates would not ease until at least February.
“The domestically generated inflation of house prices and rents, financial and insurance services and health services are proving stubbornly high,” he said.
“Both rent and house price inflation in the 12 months of February went up compared to January. This has been driven by forces of supply and demand, with demand driven by immigration and supply being constrained.”