Monthly Household Spending Indicator

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Experimental estimates of household spending

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Reference period
August 2024
Released
4/10/2024
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Key statistics

In August 2024, household spending:

  • Remained unchanged month-on-month on a current price, seasonally adjusted basis. 
  • Rose 1.7% compared with August 2023.

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. Current price, seasonally adjusted estimates of spending in Australia will be introduced for the nine in-scope COICOP Divisions in the September 2024 reference month/quarter. 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
 Aug-24 ($ millions)Jul-2024 to Aug-2024 (% change)Aug-2023 to Aug-2024 (% change)
Original71,018.12.42.4
Seasonally Adjusted69,729.00.01.7
Trend69,869.9-0.12.0

Goods and services spending

In seasonally adjusted, current price terms household spending on goods fell 0.3% month-on-month, driven by decreased spending on purchase of vehicles, motoring goods and food.

In seasonally adjusted, current price terms household spending on services rose 0.4% month-on-month, driven by increased spending on air passenger and sea transport, catering services and accommodation services.

Discretionary and non-discretionary spending

In seasonally adjusted, current price terms, discretionary spending rose 0.2% month-on-month, driven by increased spending on goods for recreation and culture, clothing and footwear and air passenger and sea transport.

In seasonally adjusted, current price terms, non-discretionary spending fell 0.4% month-on-month, driven by decreased spending on motoring goods and food.

Household Spending by category

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

  • miscellaneous goods and services (+6.3%)
  • health (+4.8%)
  • furnishings and household equipment (+4.3%).

State and territory spending

In calendar adjusted, current price terms, household spending increased through the year for all states and territories except Victoria and Tasmania. The strongest increases were in:

  • Western Australia (+3.9%)
  • Queensland (+2.7%)
  • Northern Territory (+1.9%).

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

  • miscellaneous goods and services (+10.1%)
  • health (+7.0%)
  • furnishings and household equipment (+6.7%).

In Queensland, the strongest household spending categories through the year were:

  • miscellaneous goods and services (+6.8%)
  • health (+6.7%)
  • furnishings and household equipment (+6.6%).

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

  • furnishings and household equipment (+6.9%)
  • clothing and footwear (+4.9%)
  • transport (+2.9%).
State household spending through the year by category, current price, calendar adjusted (%)
 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Food1.91.42.51.33.2-0.51.90.9
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco-10.1-12.4-8.4-9.5-3.1-7.6-8.0-3.7
Clothing and footwear-0.2-1.46.31.21.71.24.9-1.2
Furnishings and household equipment2.73.26.64.76.72.86.90.0
Health4.82.66.76.17.0-1.21.11.8
Transport-4.4-3.0-2.60.80.6-1.32.9-3.0
Recreation and culture1.0-0.42.83.95.53.31.50.4
Hotels, cafes and restaurants1.80.33.5-1.62.7-2.92.80.5
Miscellaneous goods and services7.92.06.86.910.14.61.67.6
Total0.7-0.32.71.83.9-0.31.90.6

 

State household spending through the year by goods/services, current price, calendar adjusted (%)
 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Goods-0.6-1.22.21.22.8-0.52.7-1.2
Services2.10.23.22.44.8-0.20.62.7
State household discretionary/non-discretionary spending, through the year, current price, calendar adjusted (%)
 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Discretionary0.2-1.52.21.84.10.01.70.5
Non Discretionary1.70.93.01.92.9-1.20.30.4

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Monthly Household Spending Indicator - Monthly and quarterly percentage changes and household spending estimates, January 2019 onward

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 were introduced in the June 2024 reference period publication.  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 at the national-level for total spending and the four analytical series (Goods, Services, Discretionary and Non-Discretionary).
  • Quarterly chain volume measures for the nine currently published COICOP categories, by State/territory.
  • Dollar levels for all series.

Current price, seasonally adjusted estimates of spending in Australia will be introduced for the nine in-scope COICOP Divisions in the September 2024 reference month/quarter. The time series for these estimates will start at the January 2019 month/March 2019 quarter. These will replace the corresponding calendar adjusted series in the time series spreadsheets. 

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

The ABS has assessed the method for MHSI seasonal adjustment across the published series (total spending and the analytical series). Previously, the discretionary and services series were directly adjusted, providing an independent assessment of the seasonality for each series. The other three series (total, goods and non-discretionary) were indirectly adjusted by applying seasonal adjustment to national COICOP-level series individually and summing the component series to provide seasonally adjusted estimates at the aggregate level. 

Starting this month, all five series are now indirectly adjusted by applying seasonal adjustment to State/territory COICOP series and summing up the relevant component series. This change will allow the ABS to publish additional seasonally adjusted series in the future, such as COICOP Division and State/territory, while maintaining coherence across the outputs. 

This change in method has resulted in revisions to the published seasonally adjusted and trend estimates. Revisions to source data have also resulted in revisions to the published estimates. 

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 are published. Data is benchmarked to annual HFCE and adjusted using public RBA data to cover data gaps such as cash spending and non-participating banks.

History of changes

Electric vehicle sales data from the Electric Vehicle Council (EVC) introduced to produce the indicator in August 2024. More about History of changes. 

View full methodology

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