Cost of living surges 7%: This is what’s costing the most

The cost of living has surged with official inflation data hitting 7 per cent in the year to July and 6.8 per cent to August.

This is the first time the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has reported inflation data monthly, with all previous reads coming out quarterly.

Because of this, the data does not include seasonal changes as there is no direct comparison to last year.

The previous inflation read was in July when inflation surged 6.1 per cent for the quarter.