Affordability of transport in Australia improved every quarter over the 2024-2025 financial year, according to the Australian Automobile Association's (AAA) Transport Affordability Index. It was the first time that affordability improved in four consecutive quarters since 2020.
According to the AAA, the report shows that in the three months to 30 June, an Australian household spent 15.7% of its income on transport, down from 16.1% in each of the two previous quarters and from 17% in the June 2024 quarter.
Some factors that contributed to this decrease in cost were lower fuel prices and “modest reductions in the cost of insurance”, the AAA stated.
But despite this easing of transport cost pressures, affordability has not returned to where it was in 2022, let alone to pre-pandemic levels, said the AAA.
The AAA began publishing the Transport Affordability Index in 2016 to keep track of long-term trends in costs across a range of transport categories, including fuel, loan servicing, public transport, registration, insurance and vehicle servicing. The latest report can be found here.