Household Spending Jumps In July
As we are all aware, Australian households have been feeling the pinch with the rising cost of living.
And we don’t need an ABS dataset to tell us that - a simple visit to any supermarket, or a look at a Council Rates Notice provides plenty of additional evidence.
Even so, it was still useful to take a look at the Total Household Spending release by the ABS on Thursday 27 August 2026. They key numbers were:
- Household spending rose 1.1% just between June and July, 2026;
- Over the year it has risen 7.0%, well ahead of wages growth;
- Discretionary spending has risen 7.8% over the year; while
- Non-discretionary spending is lower at 5.6%.
In July, spending rose highest in the NT at 2.2% to $976.5m, driven by a 10.9% increase in Health spending and a 3.4% increase in Miscellaneous Goods and Services.
WA was next at 1.5%, while NSW and SA shared a lower 0.7% increase.
We shouldn’t necessarily jump too quickly on monthly data results, as those can be quite volatile.
But clearly, more and more Australians are either using their savings or borrowing to keep up their heads above water. And they desperately need inflation to temper markedly to allow them to rebuild their household balance sheet.
Meanwhile, the major banks have locked in predictions of at least two more interest rates rises by the Reserve Bank in its continuing bid to get inflation under control.
Household Spending, Current Price, Seasonally Adjusted
