New Zealand’s October 2025 Price Trends: What It Means for Your Wallet and Forex Traders
Understanding how everyday prices move is critical for both ordinary households and Forex traders. The latest Selected Price Indexes (SPI) for New Zealand in October 2025 reveal important shifts in the cost of food, housing, transport, and recreation. These movements not only affect Kiwi consumers but also influence the NZD in currency markets.
Food Prices Show Mixed Movements
Overall, the food group in October 2025 decreased slightly by 0.3% month over month, though year-over-year prices rose 4.7%.
Fruit and vegetables fell sharply by 4.4% monthly, though they increased 5.4% annually.
Meat, poultry, and fish rose 0.9% month over month and 7.6% year over year, reflecting ongoing cost pressures.
Grocery food remained relatively stable, increasing 0.1% monthly and 4.9% annually.
Non-alcoholic beverages increased modestly by 0.4% monthly and 5.2% annually.
Restaurant meals and ready-to-eat foods held steady at 0.0% monthly growth and rose 2.4% annually, highlighting stable prices in dining outside the home.
For Forex traders, these figures are relevant when analyzing NZD currency strength. Food price stability can signal moderated domestic inflation, which in turn may influence Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) interest rate expectations and impact NZD/USD or AUD/NZD trades.
Housing and Household Utilities Costs
Electricity prices rose 0.5% monthly and 11.8% annually, indicating continued energy cost pressures.
Gas prices increased 1.9% monthly and 14.4% annually, further impacting household budgets.
Rental property measures remained largely stable, with the stock measure unchanged at 0.0% monthly and rising 1.6% annually.
These utility and housing costs are closely watched by Forex traders as they reflect the broader inflationary environment, which can influence NZD valuation in cross-currency pairs like NZD/JPY or NZD/USD.
Transport and Travel: A Volatile Picture
Transport costs showed mixed trends in October 2025:
Petrol rose 0.8% monthly and 2.6% annually, while diesel increased 1.1% monthly and 5.1% annually.
Domestic air transport fell dramatically by 10.6% monthly and 11.0% annually, while international air transport decreased 6.3% monthly, but rose 0.7% annually.
These fluctuations demonstrate how fuel prices and travel trends influence household expenses and can indirectly impact NZD trading by reflecting energy and tourism sector health.
Recreation and Culture: Rising Accommodation Costs
Domestic accommodation increased 2.7% monthly, though it fell 1.1% annually.
International accommodation rose 5.4% monthly and 4.4% annually, showing stronger demand from global travelers.
Such data provide insights into discretionary spending trends, which matter for traders monitoring the New Zealand economy.
Important Notes on Data Collection
October’s SPI saw a higher-than-usual proportion of imputed data (25% compared with the typical 5%), mainly affecting restaurant meals, alcohol, and meat prices. The imputation method ensures reliability but may slightly skew short-term monthly movements.
The flow of rental property measures will return in the November 2025 release (16 December 2025), after updates to the tenancy bond-lodgement system.
Why This Matters for Forex Traders
For those interested in Forex trading for beginners, SPI data is a useful guide to inflation trends. Stable or rising prices in key household categories like food, energy, and housing affect RBNZ monetary policy, which directly influences NZD exchange rates.
For example:
Strong utility price growth may push the RBNZ to maintain or increase interest rates → NZD strength.
Falling domestic air transport costs may indicate reduced demand in the tourism sector → potentially weaker NZD.
For everyday consumers, the SPI impacts grocery bills, energy costs, and travel budgets. By understanding these trends, households can plan spending, and traders can spot opportunities in currency pairs such as NZD/USD, AUD/NZD, and NZD/JPY.
Stay Ahead of Market Moves
Monitoring monthly and annual SPI changes allows you to see where inflation is accelerating or easing in New Zealand. Keep an eye on these indexes to make smarter trading and budgeting decisions.
Join GME Academy’s FREE Forex workshop to learn how to interpret economic indicators like the SPI and trade smarter in Forex markets.
