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- Many Kiwi favourites, such as butter, bread and meat pies, have surged in price well above inflation since 2016 and some unavoidable costs like council rates have nearly doubled in price;
- Westpac research shows more New Zealanders feel worse off than better off compared to 10 years ago;
- Westpac launches account tool Split in the Westpac One app® to help make money management faster and easier.
The cost of many everyday items has far outpaced inflation over the past decade, according to Westpac NZ research, as the bank introduces a new tool to help customers stay on top of their money.
An analysis of indexed pricing data by Westpac’s Economics team shows many household costs — from essentials such as council rates, petrol and groceries, to familiar Kiwi treats and takeaways — have risen faster than consumer price inflation (CPI) of 38% since 2016.
Eye-catching average price rises include 500g blocks of butter (up 157% to $8.43), a loaf of sliced white bread (up 120% to $2.38), 1kg of mince (up 71% to $24.41), burgers (up 56% to $7.55), fish and chips (up 78% to $11.07) and 50g chocolate bars (up 49% to $1.97).
Other household staples and favourites have also surged, including a tank of diesel (up 141% to $160 for a mid-size SUV), meat pies (up 64% to $6.61) and 1kg supermarket blocks of mild cheese (up 75% to $12.95). Conversely, some popular items have barely moved in price, such as chicken breasts (up just 2% since 2016 to $14.80 per kilo). Rates and services are up 87%, while building costs have risen 72%.
Those rising costs are reflected in a nationally-representative survey Westpac conducted using research platform Ideally, which showed 46% of New Zealanders feel worse off than they did 10 years ago, and only 37% feel better off.
To help households manage rising costs, Westpac has launched Split, a new tool within the Westpac One app that allows customers to allocate incoming money into separate accounts that align to their spending and savings goals.
Less left over for discretionary spending
Westpac NZ Managing Director of Product, Sustainability and Marketing, Sarah Hearn says many “nice to have” spending categories such as home furnishings, communications and cultural services (such as TV subscriptions) have seen much smaller price rises. However, households may be feeling poorer overall because they’re spending a higher proportion of their take-home pay on necessities.
“Average hourly wages have more or less tracked inflation since 2016. If anything, you’d expect New Zealanders to feel better off overall, but that’s not what our research shows and that is concerning,” Ms Hearn says.
“24% of survey respondents said they’re much worse off than they were 10 years ago, and 22% felt slightly worse off. Only 17% said they’re much better off and another 20% slightly better off. 15% felt about the same.
“Women, 50-64 year olds, and those living alone were considerably more likely to report feeling worse off.
“The surge in unavoidable costs is a likely factor. Even if discretionary items have become relatively cheaper, there’s less money left over to pay for them once people have taken care of necessities like groceries, rates and utilities, and transport costs.”
“While our data shows most customers are coping OK, we know it’s easy to feel alone and under pressure when your costs are going up. Our job is to work together with our customers on banking features and improvements that should help them spend less time worrying about money.”
Split to support better spending and saving habits
The new Split feature in the Westpac One app is designed to help make it easier for customers to stay on top of their finances and build positive spending and savings habits.
“Our customer research told us that simplicity and ease-of-use are the key features people look for in money-management tools, and we’ve designed Split with that in mind,” Ms Hearn says.
“Split allows customers to automatically direct incoming funds towards specific money goals. So if you’re paying off a loan, saving for a holiday and budgeting for weekly groceries at the same time, you can use Split to regularly send a set amount - or percentage – of your wages into a separate account for each, saving time and making it easier to organise your money.
“This is a distinctive feature among the major New Zealand banks and another example of how we’re helping create easier and more personalised banking experiences.”
Westpac continues to help customers manage rising costs in other ways, such as with a Debt Consolidation Personal Loan offering, interest-free home loan top-ups* to help reduce energy costs and tailored solutions for families doing it tough.
“Beyond our customers, we offer free nationwide financial education through Managing Your Money workshops, which reached more than 13,000 people - from students to retirees - in 2025,” Ms Hearn says.
“In the meantime, the best thing you can do if you’re feeling the squeeze is get a clear picture of your incomings and outgoings, draw up a budget and make a plan to stick to it.
“Financial uncertainty can take a toll over time. Sitting down as a family and discussing your savings and spending priorities might help you take control of money matters.
“If you’re not sure where to start, we have a range of tools and information on our website, while independent organisations like sorted.org.nz also have useful resources.”
ENDS
Editor’s note: A list of graphs showing price rises across 31 common products and services can be found below.
The cost of living survey was conducted on the Ideally platform on 28 July 2026. It was completed by 544 respondents aged between 18 and 80 years, with a margin of error of 4.5% at a 95% level of confidence for the total sample. Pricing data was collected by Westpac NZ’s Economics team from a range of sources, including Stats NZ (CPI and wages), MBIE (rents) and REINZ (house prices).
*Westpac NZ’s lending and eligibility criteria, and terms and conditions apply. Westpac Greater Choices loans are only available to new or existing Westpac customers with a Westpac Choices Home Loan with a loan balance of at least $150,000. A Westpac Greater Choices loan is an interest free loan for 5-years for a minimum of $1,000 and a maximum $50,000. Greater Choices loans are available for certain home improvements and electric/ hybrid vehicles. For full details see westpac.co.nz