The cost living increased by 7.3 per cent over the year to November, up from 6.9 per cent in October according to the Bureau of Statistics. 

Higher prices for housing, food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport, and furniture fueled the price rises.

Economists expected a rise of 7.2 per cent over the year.

The monthly readings measure around three quarters of the usual basket of goods used by the ABS to calculate price rises.

Michelle Marquardt. ABS head of price statistics, says inflationary pressures are continuing.

“The housing group was the main contributor to the annual increase in the November monthly CPI indicator."

"High labour and material costs contributed to the annual rise in new dwelling prices (+17.9 per cent) although, the rate of price growth for new dwellings has eased compared to the 20.4 per cent annual rise seen in October."

Ms Marquardt says food outlets passed on higher prices to customers, and fuel prices also climbed.

"Increasing operating costs, including wages, electricity, and weather affected reductions in food supplies continued to drive prices up.”

"In the transport group we saw some flow-on impact from the restoration of the Federal Government's fuel excise in November's higher automotive fuel prices."

"High jet fuel prices combined with strong consumer demand in November pushed airfare prices up, with accommodation prices also rising."

The last quarterly ABS figures showed annual inflation running at 7.3 per cent for the year to September, driven by the cost of building new homes, higher gas prices, and furniture.

The Reserve Bank expects the cost of living to have increased by 8 per cent on an annual basis over the December quarter.

The higher prices passed through into a rise in retail sales in November,

The ABS says retail sales rose 1.4 per cent over the month, and by 7.7 per cent over the year. 

And figures from the ABS show that household spending climbed by more than 11 per cent over the year to November as prices increased, especially in transport, hotels, cafes, and restaurants.

The Australian dollar rose after the figures came out by 0.25 per cent to 69.02 US cents, which indicates the market expects more interest rate rises by the RBA to curb inflation.

The stock market was little changed.

With more, here's my colleague Emilia Terzon.