Record fuel prices and cost of new homes push inflation to fastest pace since mid-2014

Petrol price sign outside a BP station in Canberra in December. The rising cost of fuel has pushed the headline inflation figure to $3.5% in the December quarter, up 1.3% from the previous quarter. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

Record fuel petrol prices and the highest cost of building new homes in two decades propelled consumer inflation at the end of 2021 to its fastest pace since mid-2014.

Consumer price index figures released on Tuesday by the ABS showed the headline inflation rate for the December quarter was up 3.5% from a year earlier and 1.3% from the previous three months.