Middle-Income households feel the squeeze as inflation, rents and fuel costs tighten grip.

The report also found that essential household expenses continue to rise faster than discretionary spending, placing increasing strain on middle-income families. "The Middle-Class Squeeze Indicator widened sharply by 0.5 percentage points to 2.1 percentage points as accelerating core necessities such as transport, housing and insurance diverged from slightly cooling non-essential inflation," Matsei wrote.