Household spending unchanged in August

Household spending was unchanged in August, after rising in both July (+1.1 per cent) and June (+0.9 per cent). Household spending was 6.8 per cent higher than the same time last year.

Tom Lay, ABS head of business statistics, said “Recreation and culture spending saw the largest fall – down 1.4 per cent – after months of higher spending associated with major sporting events.

“Clothing and footwear, Recreational goods, Food, Health, and Furniture also fell.”

“These falls were offset by higher transport spending – up 2.3 per cent - leaving overall household spending unchanged from July.”

“Both fuel spending and new vehicle sales contributed to this rise, especially electric vehicles sales as households respond to rising fuel prices.”

Fuel spending rose 8.1 per cent in August, following the full restoration of fuel excise duty from 3 August – a Federal Government’s Fuel Tax Relief measures introduced on 1 April.

Excluding fuel spending, total household spending would have fallen by 0.3 per cent. 

Experimental data produced by the ABS suggests that the volume of fuel spending fell by 0.5% per cent in August. This follows a 4.6% per cent decrease in July.