Experimental indicator of household spending using bank transactions data
A media statement on Thursday 23 November 2023 announced that the ABS would be enhancing the Monthly Household Spending Indicator in 2024, and ceasing the publication of Retail Trade, Australia after the June 2025 reference period. For more information, please see Future development below or visit the Future cessation of the Retail Business Survey and Retail Trade Publication webpage.
Index reference period January 2019 = 100.0
Indicator estimates are produced in current price original and current price calendar adjusted terms. Calendar adjusted estimates account for trading day impacts and length of month. As the indicator time series lengthens, seasonally adjusted estimates will become available. Until such time, it is advised to focus on the through the year movements. Through the year movements measure change in the current month compared to the same month in the previous year.
Significant events such as COVID-19 can lead to very strong through the year rises. Care should be given when comparing periods with these events.
Through the year household spending increased for five out of the nine spending categories. The largest increases were in:
Index reference period January 2019 = 100.0
Through the year, household spending on:
Index reference period January 2019 = 100.0
Through the year:
Household spending increased through the year for all eight states and territories. The strongest increases were in:
In Western Australia, the strongest household spending categories through the year were:
In Northern Territory, the strongest household spending categories through the year were:
In South Australia, the strongest household spending categories through the year were:
| NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas. | NT | ACT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food | 2.1 | -1.7 | 1.5 | -1.4 | 3.3 | -2.7 | 9.1 | 0.4 |
| Alcoholic beverages and tobacco | 1.8 | 5.8 | 2.0 | 3.2 | 9.4 | 5.9 | 6.1 | 3.3 |
| Clothing and footwear | 1.8 | -4.4 | -0.9 | -5.0 | 2.4 | -2.5 | -3.6 | 2.6 |
| Furnishings and household equipment | -5.0 | -0.5 | 0.8 | 3.8 | -7.5 | 0.0 | -1.8 | -11.5 |
| Health | 8.9 | 13.2 | 7.2 | 10.6 | 12.3 | 12.1 | 11.1 | 3.6 |
| Transport | 10.9 | 9.9 | 4.9 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 6.3 | 3.2 | 6.7 |
| Recreation and culture | -5.8 | -3.5 | -3.9 | 0.1 | -0.9 | 1.5 | 3.4 | -6.7 |
| Hotels, cafes and restaurants | 3.0 | 6.7 | 6.9 | 4.9 | 11.1 | -3.9 | 7.5 | 9.4 |
| Miscellaneous goods and services | -0.7 | 0.7 | -3.6 | 0.9 | 3.6 | 2.8 | 1.1 | -3.2 |
| Total | 1.8 | 2.4 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 4.5 | 1.9 | 4.5 | 0.8 |
| NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas. | NT | ACT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goods | -1.9 | -2.2 | -1.3 | -0.3 | 0.7 | -0.6 | 2.9 | -4.5 |
| Services | 5.9 | 8.2 | 4.9 | 6.4 | 8.9 | 4.4 | 5.8 | 5.8 |
| NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas. | NT | ACT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Discretionary | -1.8 | -1.0 | -0.5 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 0.0 | 2.7 | -3.7 |
| Non Discretionary | 5.6 | 6.2 | 3.8 | 4.1 | 6.8 | 3.7 | 6.1 | 4.6 |
Includes index numbers, monthly percentage changes and through the year percentage changes.
Caution: Data in Data Explorer is currently released after the 11:30am release on the ABS website. Please check the reference period when using Data Explorer.
For more information about Data Explorer, see the Data Explorer user guide.
Monthly Household Spending Indicator - Monthly percentage changes and indexes, January 2019 onward
Improvements to the Monthly Household Spending Indicator (MHSI) will mean the ABS can stop the Retail Trade publication after the June 2025 reference period, which will give users a more comprehensive view of household consumption and remove the need for businesses to respond to the Retail Business Survey.
The ABS has been working with key data users to understand how the MHSI can be further enhanced to meet their needs. Feedback from users has identified the following enhancements.
Once in place, these enhancements will ensure the ABS is on track to provide high quality, timely estimates of household spending across a variety of consumption categories. The enhancements are planned for delivery in 2024. Between now and mid-2025 when Retail Trade ceases, the ABS will continue to work with partners and stakeholders to improve the MHSI and provide users with suitable timely data to support their needs.
More Information about this transition can be found on the Future cessation of the Retail Business Survey and Retail Trade Publication webpage or through contacting us at household.spending@abs.gov.au.
Updates to source data have resulted in revisions to the outputs this month.
Preliminary benchmarking has been applied to the figures for the Northern Territory in this release, resulting in revisions to the estimates for October and November 2023.
The ABS would like to acknowledge the ongoing support of the participating banks that have enabled the ABS to produce these statistics.
Data is available for:
Aggregated, de-identified banks transactions data provided to the ABS from participating banks. Source data includes debit and credit card transactions, but excludes other payment types such as cash and direct transfers.
Participating banks send transactions data soon after the end of each calendar month.
Household spending is categorised according to COICOP Divisions. Outputs are produced for total household spending and nine categories. Data is benchmarked to quarterly household final consumption expenditure (HFCE) to adjust for undercoverage.
Not applicable for this release.