As with the price of manufactured consumer goods, there is a clear downward trend over time in the relative price of machinery and equipment (Graph 4). This is largely, but not solely, driven by technology improvements lowering the price of computing power.
But again, just as is the case for consumer goods, the decline in the relative price of machinery and equipment has been unusually large over the past decade. The exchange rate has obviously played an important role here as well. And the lower prices for investment goods have helped make investment more attractive in a number of areas of the Australian economy.