Australia's consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.9% in the March quarter and 2.4% annually, reported the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday.

This follows two successive quarters with increases of 0.2%, the bureau's acting head of price statistics Leigh Merrington said. Annual inflation for the March quarter was unchanged from the December 2024 quarter.

The largest contributors to higher prices in the period were housing, rising 1.7%, education, jumping 5.2%, as well as food and non-alcoholic beverages, which increased 1.2%.

Meanwhile, recreation and culture prices declined 1.6% quarter-over-quarter in the period.

Another metric of inflation, the annual trimmed mean CPI was 2.9% in the quarter, down from 3.3% in the December 2024 quarter, the lowest annual trimmed mean inflation rate since the December 2021 quarter, added the ABS.

Higher prices for food and nonalcoholic beverages, climbing 3.2%, for alcohol and tobacco surging 6.5%, as well as housing increasing 2%, contributed to annual inflation. Transport prices fell 1% year-over-year during the quarter.

Annual goods inflation clocked in at 1.3%, up from 0.8% in the prior quarter, while annual services inflation came in at 3.7% in the March quarter, down from 4.3% in the previous period.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has a 2% to 3% target on the nation's CPI.