THE average family is £12 a week better off, compared to June last year, as lower interest rates continue to help mortgage payers, research showed.
A typical household had £164 a week of discretionary income in June 2009 – up 7.8% on the same time in 2008, according to Asda.
The supermarket put the extra cash down to falls in borrowing costs, the lowest food and drink inflation since November, 2007, and inflation on utilities being at its lowest since April, 2008.
Gross income rose by £10 a week in June compared with a year earlier and average family incomes rose by £7 a week after tax in June from the previous year, the report said.
However, inflation fell to its lowest level in 21 months on the consumer price index and there was a record year- on-year drop in prices on the retail price index.
Charles Davis, an economist at the CEBR,said: “This month’s year-on- year comparison is exaggerated somewhat by base effects from June, 2008.”
