Cost of living is still the issue New Zealanders worry about most. In the Ipsos NZ Issues Monitor for September 2026, 63% named inflation and the cost of living as one of the most important issues facing the country, up from 62% in July and the highest level since May 2023.
Ipsos surveyed 1,003 adults online between 3 and 11 September. Healthcare came second at 44% and the economy third at 34%. Unemployment rose to fourth at 21%, overtaking housing for only the second time since the monitor began in 2018.
Carin Hercock, country manager at Ipsos New Zealand, says cost of living remains the dominant concern, and that unemployment moving past housing “highlights growing concern about the labour market”.
The global monitor and what it shows for New Zealand
Ipsos’s separate global Cost of Living Monitor surveyed about 1,000 New Zealanders among 23,531 adults in 33 countries in late August and early September. The 2026 report gives one result for New Zealand.
The share of New Zealanders who think inflation won’t return to normal until after next year, or never, rose 4 points on 2025.
The previous edition, surveyed in August and September 2025, gave a fuller picture. Back then, 41% of New Zealanders said they were living comfortably or doing alright, 30% were just getting by and 27% were finding it difficult. In the March and April 2024 survey, 24% were finding it difficult.
The 2025 survey also found 41% of New Zealanders expected their disposable income to fall over the following year. Among the 30 countries surveyed, only France and Türkiye had higher shares. In 2024 the figure was 38%.
Across the 33 countries in the 2026 edition, 76% of people said wars and conflicts were pushing up the cost of living, and 70% expected to pay more for energy and utilities over the next six months. Those are 33-country averages, and the report doesn’t break them out for New Zealand.
What the official figures say
Stats NZ’s figures show annual inflation easing. The consumers price index rose 3.7% in the 12 months to the September 2026 quarter, down from 4.1% in the year to June.
Petrol was the biggest driver over the year, up 19.1%, and electricity rose 9.3%. Prices still rose across much of the basket. Stats NZ says 54.9% of the basket rose by more than 3%, up from 38.5% in the year to June.
The quarter itself was mixed. International air transport prices rose 14.3% and local authority rates 6.2%, while petrol fell 6.5%.
Stats NZ’s household living-costs price indexes break the picture down by household. In the year to the June 2026 quarter, living costs for the average household rose 3.2%.
They rose 4.3% for the lowest-spending households, 1.9% for the highest-spending and 4.5% for superannuitants. Interest payments fell 15.4% for the average household.
The business read
For businesses selling to households, the Ipsos 2025 survey shows how New Zealanders expected their spending to move. Over the next six months, 83% expected their food shopping to cost more and 80% said the same of utilities, the joint highest of the 30 countries, alongside South Africa. Another 41% expected their mortgage or rent to rise, down from 48% in 2024.
That survey also asked what was driving prices. Most New Zealanders, 79%, pointed to the state of the global economy, and 68% said businesses making excessive profits contributed a great deal or a fair amount, above the 30-country average of 62%.
Annual inflation has eased since June, but Ipsos’s September survey found more New Zealanders worried about the cost of living than at any time since May 2023.
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