Housing costs top budget list

Press, 2 December 1989, Page 4

Housing costs top budget list

PA Wellington Householders are continuing to find keeping a roof over their heads the most costly part of the budget of the average household, according to figures released yesterday by the Deputy Government Statistician, Mr Len Cook. Rent, mortgage payments, rates, property purchases, and property maintenance together cost the average household $ll5 a week in the year ended March 31, 1989, compared with $lOB in the previous year. The figures come from the annual household spending and income survey conducted by the Statistics Department. The spending survey results can be summarised into seven main categories covering the full range of goods and services bought by households. They are food, housing, household operation, apparel, transportation, other goods, and other services. After housing, transportation was the next most costly category at $lO2 a week, or $6 more than in the year before. Higher than average increases in spending occurred for fruit, vegetables, farm products such as butter, cheese, milk and eggs, and for cereal products such as bread and biscuits. But the amounts spend on meat, and on sweet products, spreads and beverages, showed little change.

Running and equipping the home makes up the household operation category. That cost $76 a week, only $2 more than the year before. But less was spent on home appliances, on household equipment, and on furniture, than in the previous year. Increased spending on energy, on household supplies, and on household services more than made up for those reductions. Altogether, households spent an average of $557 a week in the year concerned, compared with $517 in the previous year. A dollar of the average household budget was spent as follows: housing, 21c; transportation, 18c; food, 17c; running and equipping the home, 14c; clothing and footwear, sc; books, newspapers, tobacco, alcohol and other goods, 11c and health, education, insurance and other services, 14c. Mr Cook said that when comparing spending amounts between years, it should be kept in mind that differences may reflect changes in price levels as well as changes in the amounts of goods and services bought. The spending figures were averaged over all households surveyed, including those which did not report spending on the goods and services concerned. The survey also showed that the average weekly before-tax income a household increased $46 to $7OB a week in the year to March 31, 1989.