Household spending down 0.4% in December
Household spending fell 0.4 per cent in December 2025, according to seasonally adjusted figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
This follows rises of 1.0 per cent in November and 1.4 percent in October.
Household spending over the year remains high, up 5.0 per cent compared to December 2024.
Tom Lay, ABS head of business statistics, said: ‘Household spending declined in December. We saw high spending in October and November, which had major sales and cultural events boost spending.
‘The fall in December indicates that households brought forward purchases during sales events in October and November.
‘These falls were across a range of categories including discretionary items such as electronics, clothing and furniture, as well as essential items like healthcare.
‘Health spending declined this month after several months of growth, partly due to higher bulk-billing rates reducing out-of-pocket costs for households.’
The biggest fall was in Clothing and footwear, down 2.4 per cent. Furnishings and household equipment was close behind, down 1.7 per cent, and Health dropped 1.3 per cent.
‘Higher spending on new vehicles helped offset the decline in December’, Mr Lay said.
Victoria saw largest monthly drop in household spending
Household spending fell in four out of the eight states and territories in December.
Victoria (-1.0 per cent) and New South Wales (-0.6 per cent) recorded the largest drops, while the Northern Territory (+2.9 per cent) had the biggest rise.
Discretionary items drive household spending volumes growth in the December quarter
The household spending volumes indicator rose 0.9 per cent in the December quarter 2025.
When the prices of goods and services change significantly, measures of the amount of goods and services that were purchased like the quarterly volumes indicator, can give more insights into household spending trends.
‘Household spending volumes rose for the sixth quarter in a row’, Mr Lay said.
‘Discretionary categories such as Clothing and footwear and Furnishing and household equipment drove the rise, up 4.1 per cent and 3.6 per cent in December.’
Household spending volumes rose 2.4 per cent compared to the December 2024 quarter, marking the strongest annual growth recorded in 2025.
Media notes
- The indicator is produced using aggregated and de-identified card transactions from banks, supermarket scanner data, and motor vehicle sales data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries and Electric Vehicle Council.
- The indicator includes nine of the 13 key divisions which are classified according to the Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP).
- Take care when comparing Household Spending Indicator estimates with other ABS products. See the Methodology page for further information.
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