The Real Reason Your Bills Are Rising Faster Than "Inflation" (It's Not What You Think)

You're told inflation is running at around three per cent a year, yet when you look at your mortgage repayments, your rent, your electricity bill and your council rates, none of it feels like three per cent, does it?

That's because it isn't. Analysis we're going to unpack today shows housing costs have been climbing at roughly four per cent a year since the year 2000, and some parts of that bill, like electricity and gas, have more than quadrupled.

Now, just to be clear, I'm not talking about the cost of residential real estate – we know that has gone up significantly more doubling every 10 years or so. But today we're talking about the costs everyday Australian consumers spend on their living and housing and keeping a roof over their heads.

And here's the part that's going to surprise a lot of you. The biggest culprits behind those rising costs aren't investors, they aren't developers, and they aren't even overseas events. In large part, they're governments, at every single level, federal, state and local.

In this episode I speak with Simon Kuestenmacher about why the cost of living feels very different from the headline inflation number and by the end of this show, you'll understand exactly which housing costs have outpaced everything else, why renters may actually be carrying more of this burden than anyone realises, why blaming property investors for the housing crisis misses the real story completely, and what would actually need to change for Australia to get affordability back under control.

We unpack how housing, utilities, and everyday expenses have outpaced CPI for decades.

We look at how electricity and gas have surged far faster than wages and official inflation measures.

We discuss why renters, mortgage holders, and outright owners experience the same economy in very different ways.

We explain how government policy, taxation, and planning decisions have quietly shaped Australia's housing affordability crisis.

Takeaways

• Housing costs have compounded faster than CPI, creating a long-term affordability gap.

• Electricity and gas bills have outpaced incomes, squeezing household budgets across Australia.