Monthly Household Spending Indicator

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Experimental indicator of household spending using bank transactions data

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Reference period
August 2023
Released
5/10/2023
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Key statistics

  • Household spending increased 4.8% through the year on a current price, calendar adjusted basis.
  • Through the year, household spending increased for services (+9.8%) but fell for goods (-0.7%).
  • Through the year, household spending increased for non-discretionary (+9.1%), while discretionary spending was relatively unchanged (0.0%).

Index reference period January 2019 = 100.0

Household spending quarterly benchmarks have been updated with the latest Household Final Consumption Expenditure (HFCE) data from Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product. This has resulted in revisions to the outputs of the Monthly Household Spending Indicator. The largest revisions occur in the April to July 2023 months.  For more information on benchmarking please refer to 'Estimation' in the 'Transformation of the data' section in the Monthly Household Spending Indicator Methodology.

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 seven out of the nine spending categories. The largest increases were in:

  • transport (+17.1%)
  • health (+8.0%)
  • hotels, cafes and restaurants (+6.9%).

Goods and services spending

Through the year, household spending on:

  • services rose 9.8%, driven by increased spending on transport, hotels, cafes and restaurants, and health.
  • goods fell 0.7%, driven by falls in furnishings and household equipment and alcoholic beverages and tobacco.

Discretionary and non-discretionary spending

Through the year: 

  • non-discretionary spending rose 9.1%, driven by spending on transport, health, and catering services.
  • discretionary spending was relatively unchanged (0.0%). Rises were driven by accommodation services and recreational and cultural services, offset by falls in furnishings and household equipment.

State and territory spending

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

  • Western Australia (+9.9%)
  • Australian Capital Territory (+8.2%)
  • South Australia (+6.6%).

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

  • transport (+22.5%)
  • health (+15.4%)
  • miscellaneous goods and services (+11.0%).

In the Australian Capital Territory, the strongest household spending categories through the year were:

  • transport (+16.2%)
  • health (+15.9%)
  • hotels, cafes and restaurants (+14.8%).

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

  • transport (+17.6%)
  • hotels, cafes and restaurants (+14.5%)
  • health (+8.9%).

 

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

 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Food4.72.74.13.38.06.20.96.7
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco-4.6-5.2-2.50.02.0-4.510.86.5
Clothing and footwear1.60.83.14.35.40.0-4.54.1
Furnishings and household equipment-11.5-13.3-13.0-8.9-9.2-21.4-5.7-9.4
Health7.43.99.88.915.412.28.315.9
Transport13.620.614.917.622.518.020.016.2
Recreation and culture0.12.75.65.36.6-3.0-6.82.3
Hotels, cafes and restaurants2.711.85.414.57.513.9-0.614.8
Miscellaneous goods and services0.6-0.64.43.211.00.623.33.4
Total2.94.65.06.69.94.64.88.2
State household spending through the year by goods/services, current price, calendar adjusted (%)
 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Goods-1.0-2.2-0.50.43.3-3.50.01.2
Services6.411.210.112.415.811.77.913.3
State household discretionary/non-discretionary spending, through the year, current price, calendar adjusted (%)
 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Discretionary-1.6-1.01.12.65.3-2.54.22.7
Non Discretionary7.29.88.510.313.611.05.012.5

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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 quarterly benchmarks and to source data have resulted in 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

Scope

  • Payment for goods and services by Australian households.
  • Captures the point of payment for a good or service, regardless of ownership change, service delivery, or consumption.

Geography

Data is available for:

  • Australia Total
  • States and territories.

Source

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.

Collection method

Participating banks send transactions data soon after the end of each calendar month. 

Concepts, sources and methods

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.

History of changes

Not applicable for this release.

View full methodology

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