Average household interest bill up 29%

Average household interest bill up 29%
(Image: Getty)
Staff reporters
The cost of living for the average household is increasing faster than the consumers price index – up 7.2% in the June year compared to 6% for the CPI.  The main difference between the household living-cost price index and the CPI is that the former includes the cost of mortgage interest payments – which increased 28.8% in the June year. During that period the average floating rate increased from 5.9% to 8.4%, while the 5-year rates remained largely steady at 6.8%, according to RBNZ data.  The next biggest contributor...