Monthly Household Spending Indicator

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Monthly and quarterly estimates of household spending

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Reference period
May 2025
Released
4/07/2025
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Release date and time
04/07/2025 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

In May 2025, household spending:

  • Rose 0.9% month-on-month on a current price, seasonally adjusted basis.
  • Rose 4.2% compared with May 2024.

Enhancements to the Monthly Household Spending Indicator

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. The improvements made to the MHSI mean that it is no longer badged as an experimental indicator. For more information, please see MHSI enhancements below or visit the Future cessation of the Retail Business Survey and Retail Trade Publication webpage.

Total Household Spending

Household spending at current prices
 May-25 ($ millions)Apr-2025 to May-2025 (% change)May-2024 to May-2025 (% change)
Seasonally Adjusted76,449.40.94.2
Trend76,226.60.24.0

Household Spending by category

In seasonally adjusted, current price terms household spending increased for seven of the nine spending categories. The largest increases were in:

  • clothing and footwear (+3.7%)
  • transport (+1.7%)
  • miscellaneous goods and services (+1.3%).

Goods and services spending

In seasonally adjusted, current price terms, household spending on goods rose 0.8% month-on-month, driven by increased spending on clothing and footwear, purchase of vehicles, and goods for recreation and culture.

In seasonally adjusted, current price terms, household spending on services rose 0.9% month-on-month, driven by increased spending on catering services, total health services, and motor vehicle repair and maintenance.

Discretionary and non-discretionary spending

In seasonally adjusted, current price terms, discretionary spending rose 1.1% month-on-month, driven by increased spending on clothing and footwear, purchase of vehicles, and catering services.

In seasonally adjusted, current price terms, non-discretionary spending rose 0.5% month-on-month, driven by increased spending on total health services, motor vehicle repair and maintenance, and medicines, medical aids and therapeutic appliances. 

State and territory spending

In seasonally adjusted, current price terms, household spending increased for all eight states and territories. The strongest increases were in:

  • Northern Territory (+1.2%)
  • Queensland (+1.0%).

In the Northern Territory, the household spending categories that drove the rise for the month were:

  • miscellaneous goods and services (+5.5%)
  • furnishings and household equipment (+3.4%)
  • clothing and footwear (+2.4%).

In Queensland, the household spending categories that drove the rise for the month were:

  • transport (+2.1%)
  • hotels, cafes and restaurants (+1.6%)
  • health (+1.2%).
State household spending by category, percentage change from previous month, current price, seasonally adjusted (%)
 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Food-0.4-0.20.3-0.40.2-0.40.30.3
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco-1.7-2.8-0.7-0.81.6-5.10.2-2.5
Clothing and footwear4.76.30.32.01.20.82.46.3
Furnishings and household equipment0.90.10.30.80.91.83.4-0.8
Health0.81.51.21.40.50.21.24.6
Transport2.80.12.10.81.82.2-0.33.8
Recreation and culture-0.10.40.91.11.11.20.2-1.1
Hotels, cafes and restaurants0.7-0.21.60.61.41.40.1-1.2
Miscellaneous goods and services1.02.10.72.20.90.25.50.1
Total0.90.71.00.81.00.61.20.9

 

Data downloads

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Monthly Household Spending Indicator Data Cubes

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 and quarterly percentage changes and household spending estimates

MHSI enhancements

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:

  • Moving to a ‘household consumption’ concept bringing MHSI closer to its predominant use. This includes updates to MHSI methods and data sources.
  • Monthly seasonally adjusted estimates by COICOP category and for the four analytical series (Goods, Services, Discretionary and Non-Discretionary), by State/territory.
  • Quarterly chain volume measures for the nine currently published COICOP categories, by State/territory. Seasonally adjusted chain volume measures are available for selected series.
  • Dollar levels for all series.

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.

Changes in this release

In this release, experimental estimates of retail turnover have been introduced for six industry groups by State and territory. These can be found in the Data downloads section above.

Acknowledgement

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

Methodology

Scope

  • Final consumption of goods and services by Australian households
  • Guided by the UNSD’s COICOP classification and aligned with National Accounts HFCE categories and concepts 

Geography

Data is available for:

  • Australia Total
  • States and territories.

Source

Aggregated, de-identified bank card transactions data provided to the ABS from participating banks. Also collected are supermarket transactions and new vehicle sales data.

Collection method

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).

Concepts, sources and methods

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.

 

History of changes

May 2025: 

  • Experimental label removed from the household spending estimates.
  • Estimates of retail turnover introduced for six industry groups by State and territory.
  • See History of changes for more information.
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