Many of the example households will see their purchasing power improve as a consequence of disinflation and wage increases in 2024–2026.

The increase will be the most pronounced for the working-class family because rents are projected to rise less than the cost of home ownership this year. The increase will be more modest for a single highly educated person because they have the highest relative housing loan burden and the lowest amount of disposable income.

Single-person households more will continue to feel the effects of inflation the most this year, according to the research centre.

“In spite of the fastest inflation, the purchasing power of the single-person household will grow throughout the monitoring period. The decline in home ownership costs and interest rates in 2025-2026 will further ease the daily life of people living alone,” it wrote.

The economic conditions will also boost the earnings of a single-parent household, but their income from social security will fall by almost 66 per cent due to cuts in the housing allowance, resulting in an almost six-per-cent drop in purchasing power in 2024.

A one-person household living on earnings-based unemployment allowance will also see their purchasing power deteriorate due to the housing-allowance cuts and adjustments made to the earnings-based benefit. The purchasing power of a one-person household living on labour market subsidy, in turn, increase this year and remain flat for the following two years because the cuts in housing allowance and labour market subsidy will be offset by income assistance.

With pensions set to outpace wages this year, the pensioner couple will see the biggest increase in their purchasing power out of the eight example households. The strengthening will continue in 2025–2026 but at a lower pace than for wage-earning households as wages are expected to overtake pensions starting next year.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT