A drop in consumer spending is being felt at one of Canberra's most unlikely places; the cemetery.
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Sales of burial site reservations dropped 30 per cent last financial year as consumers tightened their wallets and postponed purchases of less essential goods.
Figures revealed in the Canberra Cemeteries 2010-11 report shows sales of burial site reservations decreased from 236 in 2009-10 to only 172 last financial year.
ACT Public Cemeteries Authority chief executive Hamish Horne said the significant drop in reservations followed a national trend.
''It's a relatively large cost and other things are probably more important,'' he said.
''It's the same cost as purchasing a plot, we require people to pay the whole cost.''
Mr Horne said people reserved burial sites to relieve the stress from their families, and to secure a spot next to their loved ones.
But he said cost-of-living pressures were driving demand for cremations.
While a basic lawn burial at Gungahlin costs $4600, cremation with a funeral director and memorial costs about $3000.
There are no official figures on the number of cremations performed in the ACT, however, Mr Horne says roughly 70 per cent of residents are now cremated, a figure that is increasing.
''Anecdotally it is slowly increasing, it is less expensive and that for some people is important. Burial is a more traditional thing, in our cemetery the majority of people who get buried are orthodox Christian, Muslim and Jewish ...''
Norwood Park Crematorium client service manager Phil Middleton says a growing number of people are opting for cremation because of financial reasons.
The cost of cremation is around half that of a traditional burial.
Mr Middleton said there had also been an increase in ashes being transported out of the ACT.
''These are elderly people who have made reservations in other states and territories and once they have moved to Canberra they haven't changed those reservations.''
Also last financial year, there were 626 interments in the ACT.