KEY POINTS:
Heat pumps, cut flowers, digital music downloads and digital television receivers are in and writing paper, video cassettes and photographic film are out of the basket of goods and services used to measure changes in consumer prices.
Statistics New Zealand said today the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket was reviewed to update the relative importance of the goods and services.
The results will be used in the publication of the reweighted CPI for the September 2008 quarter on October 21.
The CPI basket is reviewed about once every three years.
It was last reviewed in 2006.
"The basket of representative goods and services has been reselected to ensure that it continues to reflect household spending patterns," Statistics NZ said.
Goods added to the basket as part of the review include heat pumps, cut flowers and high-tech products such as in-car satellite navigation units, free-to-air digital television receivers and digital music downloads.
Services added include lawn mowing, house cleaning and auction services - to reflect the growing popularity of online trading.
Goods removed include solid fuel burners, cathode ray tube television sets, video cassette tapes, photographic film and writing paper.
The review was based on a survey of 2600 households between July 2006 and June 2007.
Of every $100 spent by households on goods and services, covered by the CPI, $22.75 is spent on housing and household utilities - up from $20.02 in 2006, Statistics NZ said.
"This reflects increased spending on renting and on purchasing new housing, and higher electricity prices."
Food accounts for $17.83 of every $100 spent, a small increase from the $17.38 in 2006.
Transport was down from $17.24 to $16.18, but petrol increased to $5.47 of every $100 spent.
- NZPA
