Petrol has spiked 40-50 cents in weeks – Sydney and Brisbane averages at $2.18/L, regional pumps approaching $3.00/L – and the RBA’s narrow 5-4 split to 4.10% has tipped another 1.32 million mortgage holders into “at risk” territory. This is effectively a live stress test of the VAMPIRE Index, first established in the 2006 RMIT/Griffith paper “Unsettling Suburbia.” That study identified the outer-suburban trap two decades ago. The variables have since changed.

Rent-refugees traded inner-city rents for large mortgages 50km+ out on the fringe – not escaping cost-of-living pressure, but converting it into record bank debt in the postcodes most exposed to fuel shocks. The professional class offsets petrol costs through WFH, yet those same knowledge-work roles carry the highest AI automation exposure – a vulnerability the original framework could have never predicted.

A quieter EV divide is widening between households with capital to transition and those locked into combustion with no margin to switch.

I’ve been running a quick experiment mapping where these impacts converge spatially – GIS workflows augmented with Claude Code to bridge static spatial data and real-time economic signals. Very, very quick and early stage, but the feedback loop is significantly faster making me think that we can start making more dynamic indices to plan for an ever more dynamic world. If you work in urban economics or spatial planning and want to grow and stress-test the methodology – reach out – these can be quickly conceived with Claude now!