Monthly Household Spending Indicator

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Experimental indicator of household spending using bank transactions data

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Reference period
June 2023
Released
8/08/2023
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Release date and time
08/08/2023 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

  • Household spending increased +1.8% through the year on a current price, calendar adjusted basis
  • Through the year, household spending increased for services (+4.6%) but fell for goods (-1.2%)
  • Through the year, household spending increased for non-discretionary (+4.2%) but fell for discretionary (-0.7%).

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 spending

Through the year household spending increased for six out of the nine spending categories. The largest increases were in:

  • miscellaneous goods and services (+8.4%)
  • health (+6.2%)
  • food (+5.0%).

Goods and services spending

Through the year, household spending on:

  • services rose 4.6%, driven by increased spending on miscellaneous goods and services, health, and hotels, cafes and restaurants.
  • goods fell 1.2%, driven by falls in clothing and footwear, goods for recreation and culture, and furniture, floor coverings and household goods.

Discretionary and non-discretionary spending

Through the year: 

  • non-discretionary spending rose 4.2%, driven by spending on food, health, and catering services.
  • discretionary spending fell 0.7%, driven by falls in clothing and footwear, goods for recreation and culture and furniture, floor coverings and household goods.

State and territory spending

Household spending increased through the year for all states and territories except Northern Territory. The strongest increases were in:

  • South Australia (+3.7%)
  • Western Australia (+2.9%)
  • New South Wales (+2.1%).

In the South Australia, the strongest household spending categories through the year were:

  • Alcoholic beverages and tobacco (+11.2%)
  • miscellaneous goods and services (+9.7%)
  • health (+8.1%).

In Western Australia, the strongest household spending categories through the year were:

  • health (+11.4%)
  • miscellaneous goods and services (+5.2%)
  • transport (+4.3%).

In New South Wales, the strongest household spending categories through the year were:

  • miscellaneous good and services (+10.4%)
  • health (+7.5%)
  • food (+6.5%).

 

State household spending through the year by category, current price, calendar adjusted (%)

 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Food6.56.73.16.50.58.0-4.95.9
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco1.2-3.66.411.21.2-3.716.2-6.4
Clothing and footwear-7.0-6.8-10.1-8.00.8-7.7-18.2-14.0
Furnishings and household equipment-3.1-1.6-4.6-0.82.58.7-5.9-2.2
Health7.52.45.58.111.48.512.85.9
Transport1.1-1.03.2-1.64.3-0.52.05.3
Recreation and culture-3.4-5.4-1.33.3-2.9-13.8-10.8-2.9
Hotels, cafes and restaurants4.56.24.02.22.712.5-7.64.5
Miscellaneous goods and services10.48.07.49.75.2-2.415.2-0.6
Total2.10.51.93.72.91.7-1.31.3
State household spending through the year by goods/services, current price, calendar adjusted (%)
 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Goods-1.1-1.8-1.43.4-0.7-0.7-8.4-2.8
Services5.12.95.04.16.33.73.64.5
State household discretionary/non-discretionary spending, through the year, current price, calendar adjusted (%)
 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Discretionary-0.8-2.3-0.13.51.5-3.2-4.2-4.7
Non Discretionary5.13.43.83.94.16.11.76.4

Data downloads

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Monthly Household Spending Indicator Data Cubes

Includes index numbers, monthly percentage changes and through the year percentage changes. 

Data files

Data Explorer datasets

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

Revisions and future development

Updates to source data have resulted in some revisions to the outputs. 

The new experimental monthly household spending indicator uses new and innovative methodologies to produce indicators of household spending based on bank transactions data.

The ABS is continuing to assess and refine the monthly household spending indicator methodologies and welcomes comments on the usefulness of these estimates. 

The ABS is able to provide technical advice on using the monthly household spending indicator estimates, and its coherence with other ABS estimates such as Monthly Retail Trade and the National Accounts.

The ABS welcomes comments on the usefulness of these estimates. If you would like to provide feedback or request technical advice, please email national.accounts@abs.gov.au.

Acknowledgement

The ABS would like to acknowledge the ongoing support of the participating banks that have enabled the ABS to produce these statistics.

Methodology

Monthly Household Spending Indicator methodology, June 2023

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