Experimental estimates of household spending
In April 2025, household spending:
A media statement on Thursday 23 November 2023 announced that the ABS would be enhancing the Monthly Household Spending Indicator (MHSI), and ceasing the Retail Trade publication after the June 2025 reference period. For more information, please see MHSI enhancements below or visit the Future cessation of the Retail Business Survey and Retail Trade Publication webpage.
| Apr-25 ($ millions) | Mar-2025 to Apr-2025 (% change) | Apr-2024 to Apr-2025 (% change) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seasonally Adjusted | 75,741.9 | 0.1 | 3.7 |
| Trend | 75,928.3 | 0.1 | 3.7 |
In seasonally adjusted, current price terms household spending increased for three of the nine spending categories. The largest increases were in:
In seasonally adjusted, current price terms, household spending on goods fell 1.1% month-on-month, driven by decreased spending on clothing and footwear, purchase of vehicles, and cigarettes and tobacco.
In seasonally adjusted, current price terms, household spending on services rose 1.5% month-on-month, driven by increased spending on recreational and cultural services, total health services, catering services, and accommodation services.
In seasonally adjusted, current price terms, discretionary spending fell 0.2% month-on-month, driven by decreased spending on clothing and footwear, purchase of vehicles, and cigarettes and tobacco.
In seasonally adjusted, current price terms, non-discretionary spending rose 0.6% month-on-month, driven by increased spending on total health services, motor vehicle repair and maintenance, and medicines, medical aids and therapeutic appliances.
In seasonally adjusted, current price terms, household spending increased for two out of the eight states and territories. The strongest increases were in:
In Queensland, the household spending categories that drove the rise for the month were:
In Western Australia, the household spending categories that drove the rise for the month were:
| NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas. | NT | ACT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food | 0.7 | 0.9 | -3.1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.1 | -0.5 | 0.6 |
| Alcoholic beverages and tobacco | -1.1 | -8.4 | -1.8 | -2.1 | -0.3 | -9.6 | -4.3 | -1.1 |
| Clothing and footwear | -6.7 | -6.6 | 5.0 | -2.4 | -0.3 | -0.3 | -2.8 | -6.1 |
| Furnishings and household equipment | -1.8 | -0.7 | 0.8 | -0.9 | 0.2 | -1.4 | -2.9 | -1.1 |
| Health | 0.0 | 0.3 | 6.0 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 1.5 | -19.2 | 0.2 |
| Transport | -1.5 | -1.9 | 2.2 | -2.7 | -1.6 | -6.0 | -2.5 | -3.7 |
| Recreation and culture | 1.1 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 2.1 |
| Hotels, cafes and restaurants | 0.8 | 1.8 | 5.3 | 1.2 | 1.8 | -0.3 | 7.7 | 0.5 |
| Miscellaneous goods and services | -0.9 | -1.4 | 3.3 | -1.3 | 0.2 | -1.1 | -2.1 | 1.4 |
| Total | -0.5 | -0.8 | 2.0 | -0.1 | 0.5 | -1.5 | -0.9 | -0.3 |
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.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has collaborated with key data users to enhance the Monthly Household Spending Indicator (MHSI) and better address their needs. Based on user feedback, enhancements to MHSI have been progressively rolled out. These improvements provide a more comprehensive view of household consumption, including:
In March 2025 the ABS released an information paper, which provides guidance on using MHSI data: Interpreting the Monthly Household Spending Indicator.
Prior to Retail Trade ceasing, the ABS will continue to work with partners and stakeholders to further enhance 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.
We have updated the method to include cash transactions in the MHSI estimates. The MHSI estimates are compiled from administrative data sources including aggregate credit card transactions. By consequence, cash transactions are not captured in these data sources. Since the June 2024 publication, a monthly adjustment has been applied to include cash spending – by combining RBA statistics on ATM withdrawals with RBA survey insights into household payment behaviour to different types of retailers. Prior to this release the adjustment factor was nowcasted in the most recent month, as the RBA's monthly ATM withdrawals series is not available in time for the MHSI publication. From this release onwards, the cash adjustment factors are also smoothed using a 13-term Henderson filter to address volatility in the factors. While this change has resulted in revisions to all series in this release, it is expected that the size of revisions due to the cash adjustment will be smaller in future releases.
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 bank card transactions data provided to the ABS from participating banks. Also collected are supermarket transactions and new vehicle sales data.
Participating banks send transactions data soon after the end of each calendar month. Supermarkets send weekly transactions files, and VFACTS is received as a monthly delivery from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI).
Household consumption is categorised to COICOP Divisions. Outputs from 9 COICOPs and all states and territories are published. Data is benchmarked to annual HFCE and adjusted monthly to cover data gaps such as cash spending.
April 2025: