Monthly Household Spending Indicator

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Experimental indicator of household spending using bank transactions data

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Reference period
January 2023
Released
14/03/2023
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Key statistics

  • Household spending increased 17.8% through the year on a current price, calendar adjusted basis.

  • Through the year, household spending increased for both services (+28.2%) and goods (+8.6%).

  • Through the year, both non-discretionary (+22.2%) and discretionary (+13.3%) spending increased.

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 in all spending categories except alcoholic beverages and tobacco (-5.4%). The largest increases were in:

  • transport (+41.5%)
  • hotels, cafes, and restaurants (+38.5%)
  • clothing and footwear (+20.9%).

Goods and services spending

Through the year, household spending on:

  • services rose 28.2%, driven by increased spending on transport, catering services and recreational and cultural services.
  • goods rose 8.6%, driven by rises in food and clothing and footwear.

Discretionary and non-discretionary spending

Through the year: 

  • discretionary household spending rose 13.3%, driven by spending in recreational and cultural services and clothing and footwear. 
  • non-discretionary household spending rose 22.2%, driven by spending on transport services and catering services. 

State and territory spending

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

  • Australian Capital Territory (+20.5%)
  • South Australia (+19.7%)
  • Victoria (+19.7%).

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

  • hotels, cafes, and restaurants (39.4%)
  • transport (+35.3%)
  • clothing and footwear (+20.5%).

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

  • hotels, cafes, and restaurants (+42.7%)
  • clothing and footwear (+40.8%)
  • transport (+36.8%). 

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

  • transport (+47.1%)
  • hotels, cafes, and restaurants (+45.3%)
  • clothing and footwear (+24.9%). 

 

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

 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Food9.89.96.410.37.111.04.411.2
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco-3.9-2.7-9.9-3.6-11.50.02.92.4
Clothing and footwear15.824.927.240.86.217.420.020.5
Furnishings and household equipment18.52.0-0.55.67.412.19.511.1
Health5.710.012.410.82.38.57.98.8
Transport41.347.135.336.845.237.340.035.3
Recreation and culture10.220.324.423.711.814.216.919.7
Hotels, cafes and restaurants40.645.339.542.718.640.027.139.4
Miscellaneous goods and services18.713.911.112.36.49.01.316.9
Total18.019.717.219.712.917.915.520.5
State household spending through the year by goods/services, current price, calendar adjusted (%)
 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Goods10.38.48.010.25.08.67.411.3
Services26.434.127.730.521.527.221.929.2
State household discretionary/non-discretionary spending, through the year, current price, calendar adjusted (%)
 NSWVic.QldSAWATas.NTACT
Discretionary12.715.114.116.17.413.310.817.7
Non Discretionary23.524.320.223.217.822.020.423.1

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

Revisions and future development

Household spending quarterly benchmarks have been updated with latest Household Final Consumption Expenditure (HFCE) 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 to October 2022, November 2022 and December 2022 months, in line with the first inclusion of HFCE benchmarks for the December 2022 quarter.  For more information on benchmarking please refer to 'Estimation' in the 'Transformation of the data' section in the Monthly Household Spending Indicator Methodology. 

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, January 2023

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