Prices fell in Catalonia in September, but are still 2.6% above year-ago levels.

BarcelonaThe cost of living fell in September in both Catalonia and Spain, although prices for household consumer goods and services were significantly higher than year-earlier levels, mainly due to the rise in fuel prices and, to a lesser extent, electricity prices over the past year, according to data from the Consumer Price Index (CPI) published Wednesday.

In Catalonia, prices fell by an average of 0.5% between August and September, a significant drop. However, the rise in energy costs in recent months has meant that prices are now 2.6% higher than their September 2024 levels, two-tenths of a percentage point higher than expected. the annual variation recorded in August. Along the same lines, the rise in fuel prices throughout much of 2025 has also had an upward impact on the annual inflation rate.

As for Spain as a whole, the INE has increased the annual rate of price growth by one tenth in September, which had published two weeks agoInitially estimated at 2.9%, it has now risen to 3% (last month, the change was 2.7%). Compared to August, the cost of living for Spanish families fell by 0.3%.

Thus, in both Catalonia and Spain, prices fell in September compared to August, but at the same time, price increases accelerated compared to a year earlier. This is the result of what is known in statistics as base effect: Over the past three months, prices had been very moderate or even falling, but for the rest of the year, rising energy prices had pushed the CPI up. This explains why, although the cost of living fell between August and September, inflation is higher in September than in August compared to a year earlier.

As for core investment—which does not include the most volatile items, such as energy and fresh food—it stood at 2.4% annually, six-tenths of a percentage point below the general CPI.

The end-of-summer effect

In any case, in the short term, inflation has given families a new lease of life with the monthly reduction recorded last month. The goods that have become most affordable are leisure and cultural services, as is typical in September, when the end of the summer holidays encourages families to cut back on leisure spending. In the case of Catalonia, the price cut averaged 4.7% for this category of services compared to August. Similarly, hotel and restaurant prices fell 0.5%, a result of the drop in demand (less foreign tourism and lower household spending), while package holidays fell 17.4% in one month across Spain as a whole, and airline tickets fell more than 22%.

The widespread fall in transportation prices is also one of the effects of the end of summer on the CPI. In Catalonia, the cost of transportation services fell 0.8% in September compared to the previous month.

On the other hand, prices for basic housing services – such as water, natural gas, and electricity – remained at their levels in September, but compared to a year ago, they are the element that had risen the most on average, with a cost 4.5% higher than in September 2024. The most obvious case is the electricity bill (self-employed workers), which fell by 0.2% between August and September, but is now 16.8% more expensive than a year ago.

At the other extreme, clothing and footwear rose in price, something also normal with the start of the school year and the end of the August sales.

Meat goes up, oil goes down

Food prices continued to rise, although at a slower pace than the increases recorded especially in 2023, when the agri-food industry felt the second-round effects caused by the energy crisis resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to a statement sent to the media by the Ministry of Economy, food price growth in Spain has been recording annual increases of around 2.4% for months.

Among the exceptions are olive oil, on the one hand, and meat, on the other. After the sharp increases two years ago due to drought and poor harvests in the main producing areas of the State (mainly Catalonia and Andalusia), the ministry emphasizes that the price of olive oil has decreased 34.5% compared to September 2024 in Spain as a whole. However, Meat continues to rise in price, and in the case of veal, the price was 16.5% more expensive in September than a year earlier, while lamb rose 9% in the same period.