2026.06.2501:50:39UTC+00Australia Personal Spending Rebounds in May

Household spending in Australia rose 1.3% month-on-month in May 2026, recovering from a 1.1% decline in April. Expenditure increased in eight of the nine major consumption categories. The strongest rebound was in clothing and footwear (up 2.7% after a 2.2% fall in April), followed by miscellaneous goods and services (2.2% vs -0.7%), transport (1.4% vs -4.7%), food (1.1% vs -1.1%), and recreation and culture (0.8% vs -0.2%).

Spending also continued to grow for hotels, cafés and restaurants (1.9% vs 0.9%), alcoholic beverages and tobacco (1.0% vs 0.4%), and furnishings and household equipment (0.8% vs 0.0%).

By region, household spending increased in Western Australia (2.6%), the Northern Territory (2.1%), Victoria (1.7%), South Australia (1.6%), Queensland (1.1%), New South Wales (0.7%), and the Australian Capital Territory (0.6%). Tasmania was the only jurisdiction to record a decline, with spending down 0.5%. On an annual basis, household spending rose 5.5%.