Has anything become cheaper with the pandemic?

Just thinking. Loads of things are becoming more expensive with the pandemic. High demand vs supply of materials pushing up the price of wood, metals etc... unicycles (don't laugh, it's true, thet are competing against the manufacture of bikes because they are made by the same manufacturers and that's at all time high demand and shipping has become very expensive), cars, houses, meats etc. all became more expensive. Shipping anything has become more expensive. My sister has a business and the shipping rates to import her product have skyrocketed... Apart from short term cheaper prices of petrol and inner city rents, what has become cheaper in the pandemic?

Interest rates are down and staying down for now but when the things you are buying have just jumped in price... guess interest rates have to stay low or else a lot of people will potentially be in trouble... with the size of new home loans people have taken out I can't see how these people would cope with a 7% interest rate which was pretty normal just a few years ago...

 

Seafood. China doesn't want it, so I'll take it. I've eaten so much lobster recently lol. Too bad I'm a crap cook, but butter + garlic + cheese works well enough.

(in fact I don't even know if it's cheaper as I don't really know what the "before" price was, I just want to support them)

 

True. That's one thing. Lobster still is not exactly cheap though, imo.

 

Yeah as I said I don't even know what the "before" price was so I have no basis for comparison. I just want to do whatever I can to support local industries / products.

 

The AUD is cheaper

 

The cost of capital (Interest rates)

 

Flights.

 

Rent, hotel rooms (less than half price), all tourist stuff 50-75% off

 

Not in Australia ...

 

lives

 

Off-peak public transport fares in Melbourne - reduced by 30%, but only till end of this month.

 

Mortgage repayments

 

fuel for the car

 

Fuel is not cheap, Lobster (crayfish) is cheap compared to Before Covid although I dont eat it. Try hiring a car in Tasmania for a day...around $350-400

 

$1.45 at my local and $1.32 for diesel.

 

On average, what's the ballpark estimate for flying these days? 10% cheaper? 50% cheaper?

I need to make 4 x Syd to Bris trips this year...what am I in for?

And in such turbulent times, do flight prices just go bananas out of nowhere? Like 100% increases within a few hours? I really don't know what to expect.

 

I buy diesel these days so I only glanced at ths before the long weekend.