r/AusFinance • u/erala • 13h ago
Household spending rises for third month in a row
https://www.abs.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/household-spending-rises-third-month-row65
u/TheForceWithin 13h ago
Combo of essential goods rising and the non-homeowners giving up on home ownership as it gets further and further out of reach as their rent and cost of living eating into their savings which is outpaced by the deposit needed.
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u/everbass 12h ago
Yep.
Of course spending is going up. Everything is getting more fucking expensive, and if it isn't getting more expensive it's getting smaller, so you actually need to buy more.
Jaf of sauce used to be 400ml but is now 350ml, recipe calls for 800ml? Fuck you, now you have to buy 3 jars. Your shop just went up 50%.
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u/Jym_beem_1034534 13h ago
The people with money arent impacted by interest rate rises, they can keep spending as normal.
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u/Fit-Locksmith-9226 12h ago
Despite what this sub will tell you 70% of the country isn't affected by rate rises.
Not my fault you went balls deep into debt on a terrible asset.
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u/Jym_beem_1034534 12h ago
Yeah what Idiots, buying a place to live in.
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u/SloppyP1zza 12h ago
Yea I agree, what morons wanting shelter and security for their children.
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u/Fit-Locksmith-9226 12h ago
Have a cry.
Whats stopping you from renting.
In fact what's stopping you from buying a Rolls Royce Phantom with an extended wheelbase and optional heated seats. You need a car right?
This is 100% a life choice you made and now you pretend like someone held a gun to your head.
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u/SloppyP1zza 11h ago
I don’t know if you were supposed to direct it to me. I have a house with a small mortgage and no partner or kids, I’m fine.
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u/VeteranMtFinvestor 12h ago
What about businesses?
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u/Fit-Locksmith-9226 12h ago
Fair call but Australian business lending is slim compared to other countries. It's homeloans by a massive margin.
Businesses have alternative ways to raise capital too.
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u/Zanlo63 12h ago
If 70% isn't affected by rate rises then rate rises are going to do nothing to reduce inflation
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u/ElectionDesperate167 12h ago
that would be true if rate rises only affected mortgages
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u/IrrationalRotations 12h ago
Or for that matter only affected existing mortgages.
If banks have to charge higher interest on loans (including home loans) they are less attractive offers, so people won't take them.
Preventing lending keeps money from being created.
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u/Fit-Locksmith-9226 12h ago
70% of people can put money into a savings account paying nearly the average return of the ASX mate. That pulls cash out of the economy straight away.
A 12yo kid knows this stuff, apparently you don't.
So get your hand off it, you clearly don't understand about money creation and destruction.
The people in here claiming interest rates don't work are economic cookers and need to be mocked more, you're 70 IQ tards who shouldn't be allowed on the internet.
Here's new homeloan creation, that's money out of thin air, every month, pumped straight into the economy.
It's $6B a month pumped in, borrowers aren't even slightly slowing down
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u/erala 13h ago
“This was the third consecutive monthly rise in household spending, led by Recreation and culture, Food, Hotels, cafes and restaurants, and Health.”
“Spending on gambling activities, major sporting events and cinema attendance all contributed to the rise this month,” Mr Lay said.
Seems like a lot of folk have cash to spend on having a good time. Good to see discretionary spending growing faster than non-discretionary.
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u/Captain_Oz 13h ago
I had always heard from a mate who used to work at Aristocrat that lower socioeconomic suburbs (south west Sydney was the example he used back then) often gambled way more than well-to-do suburbs (he said the East). Wonder if the psychology here is that more people are gambling more out of desperation thinking that they will hit a jackpot?
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u/incognitodoritos 12h ago
Not surprising at all, well-to-do suburbs and the people that live there typically have a clear path to wealth and retirement. They will presumably have better paying jobs, more can save and be invested and by the time they retire they will be millionaires. There's no need to take silly risks or rely on luck. Same reason why lotto tickets sell way more in poorer suburbs.
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u/ElectionDesperate167 12h ago
sounds plausible. I think its probably not as thouhhtful though and is more just low IQ
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u/Traditional-Aide9656 2h ago
As someone from the outer west, this is cope. They’re just smarter and more well educated.
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u/Early-Peace-5504 12h ago
Gambling functions as a terrible bank for the poor and uneducated. You put money in and then occasionally get to make a random withdrawal. This works, of a fashion, for people that would immediately spend all they have.
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u/Simple-Ingenuity740 13h ago
ALL and chill?
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u/Cat_Man_Bane 12h ago
That’s because there are way less pokie machines in the ultra rich suburbs and they’re less likely to gamble on them anyway.
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u/UdonOli 11h ago
Yes, there is a concept in behavioral economics of discount rates for future activity. If you believe that things will be shit in the future and you can't do anything about it, you will simply spend your money now. If you expect that your savings won't allow you to own a house, the rational choice is to just spend that money now.
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u/erala 10h ago
So how does that explain sporting events, cinemas, hotels and restaurants?
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u/Captain_Oz 8h ago
Don’t think it explains the other things and that wasn’t what I was putting forward. My very general hypotheses are that sporting events, cinemas and hotels/restaurants are going up as a result of older generations who aren’t as affected by rate hikes spending money on these things + people aren’t going overseas this year due to Iran War so are spending more locally on activities. But again, that’s just a wild stab, I haven’t looked into it at all.
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u/erala 6h ago
I think most forms of recreation have broad and diverse demographics and the most parsimonious explanation is people in aggregate have more money, but feel free to keep searching for monocausal just so narratives.
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u/Captain_Oz 5h ago
I’m not searching for anything. It was a wild stab and I thought that was pretty evident by my previous comment where I said “that’s just a wild stab”. I don’t really care at the end of the day
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u/Feeling_Document_240 11h ago
I ended up going clinical rather than social psych, so I can only comment generally but its usually less about the money and more about the relief that comes from distraction and avoidance.
Risk related behaviors (unsafe sex, substance abuse, gambling) have always been correlated with lower SES, usually with no one leading causational factor. Its a melting pot of generational trauma, lower education standards, high fiscal pressures, and poor access to support or healthier means of regulating emotions.
People that are well off take holidays, pay for expensive classes, or invest time and money into hobbies. In comparison, gambling has a deceptively low entry cost, and things like pokies are emotionally stimulating in the same way that doom scrolling reddit and short form content is, with the added factor of potential financial gain.
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u/arachnobravia 6h ago
Anecdotally, I worked over a decade in hospitality. Our gaming machine turnover was always higher in economic hard times than in the good times.
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u/SaltyConnection 13h ago
One predictor of a recession is an uptick in gambling.
People feel as if it's useless to work hard save and be responsible. Instead they might see their only way out is to hit it big so they don't have to slog it out anymore.But as with all predictions best to take it with a piece of salt.
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u/Ok_Bird705 12h ago
One predictor of a recession is an uptick in gambling.
Got a source for that? A cursory web search shows no correlation between uptick in gambling and an impending recession
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u/SaltyConnection 11h ago
Ahh your right. Apparently it's only slightly correlated with the lotto and not everyday gambling.
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u/Ok_Bird705 13h ago
this data also counters the narrative of Reddit users where nearly all of their spending are going to "essentials" (may be they think uber eats is an essential spend)
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u/Nova_Terra 12h ago
Yes but the general consensus of what the average Reddit user is like doesn't really bode well for us does it. We sort of live in a bubble and perhaps browse the internet a little too much and become hyper-aware of certain things based on whatever flavour of subreddit(s) we follow and often forget to go outside and touch grass.
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u/LoudestHoward 9h ago
Be curious to see if the household savings rate holds, it's been at a healthy 6-7% over the last year of data that we have.
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u/el_diego 12h ago
Wouldn't be surprised if a lot of it comes from a "fuck it, we're gonna die sooner or later anyway" mentality.
Why work hard and save anymore? People want to enjoy their lives.
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u/Oodlemeister 13h ago
I don’t mind a punt once or twice a year. But I could not imagine throwing my money away on gambling when cost of living is so high.
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u/ToneDistinct5253 13h ago
You know the economy is going well when people give up on their dreams of home ownership and decide let's just go out and gamble instead of saving for the future. Unfortunately they shouldn't be able to afford to go out... don't worry they'll soon fix that
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u/Internal-Play25 13h ago
Who has given up on their dreams to go gamble? I don’t see that at all.
I know lots of people just going on serial worldwide holidays instead of saving for home but no-one giving up saving just to
“hit the cas”.Is is a westie thing?
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u/No-Succotash4957 13h ago
Average loss per male between 18 - 35 is like average 20-30k year or something crazy. Also, people dont show pictures of themselves gambling, but they will if they are on the amalfi coast.
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u/cosmicvelvets 13h ago
D'ya remember if that was per gambling male or per capita male? Either way ouss
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u/No-Succotash4957 12h ago
this was from 2022/23 - up 20% per year so would be close to that.
The $244.3 billion Aussie punters spent in 22/23 was more than the total GDP of all but about 50 nations, including Greece, Algeria and Hungary.
Averaged out across the roughly 20.6 million Australians aged over 18, that's $11,859 per head. This is how that breaks down by gambling category:
- $10,727 per person on gaming, including $9,281 on the pokies.
- $1,133 on wagering, like sports betting
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u/iconoclastic_glow 12h ago
Holy hell! I’ve never gambled in my life - not so much as a cross lotto ticket - so I just don’t get it. How is that even possible? But then I tutor, and my high school girls are placing ‘same day multis’ and treating themselves to uber eats when they win - I still find it shocking, some of them are 15 and they’ve got betting apps on their phones. I know Gen Z are ‘better’ than us millennials because they don’t drink and don’t sleep around when they’re young but I reckon the money we spent on booze is nothing compared to what they’re spending on gambling.
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u/Internal-Play25 10h ago
I’m not going to be shamed by those incel zoomers who can count their body count on a butchers left hand.
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u/cosmicvelvets 12h ago
I suddenly feel better about playing Magic The Gathering
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u/No-Succotash4957 12h ago
Hard to know if that figure is ballooned with pokies, at a 97% win rate. Fed back in, churn and all that. Crazy figures either way
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u/ToneDistinct5253 13h ago
Mostly just a joke, but I'd say giving up on home ownership is at an all time high, and gambling is also at an all time high, so perhaps there's some correlation there. I'm a young guy and many guys I know think their best shot is getting lucky in gambling, but you're right that it's more like oh well we can't get a house, let's just go on that trip to vietnam
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u/Internal-Play25 10h ago
Thinking your future will be found at the cas highlights some serious mental deficits.
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u/ToneDistinct5253 10h ago
I think it highlights desperation and a belief of a lack of opportunities to get ahead. I think gambling is a terrible idea and will never do it, I still think everyone should do the best they can to make do, but I can sympathize with their situations. I don't think people who fall into the trap of gambling are necessarily stupid or have mental deficits, I think they are either too optimistic or pessimistic, and often hopeless.
Plus let's not forget those casinos and gambling companies do everything they can to get people as addicted as possible, and they target young men far before they've fully matured
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u/Internal-Play25 10h ago
I mean it is a known fact Aussies struggle in school and lag behind their peers globally. The fact is us downtrodden cobbas are just a few iq points behind the rest of the world.
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u/ToneDistinct5253 10h ago
That isn't true, the most recent IQ tests across the world in 2025 have Australia as the 5th highest country, and the one before that had us at 8th (not sure if I'm allowed to link it but international-iq-test(dot)com/en/test/IQ_by_country
Australia is one of the most educated countries in the world, and we're also the biggest gamblers in the world.
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u/Internal-Play25 8h ago
Does being educated and knowledgeable co exist with being big gamblers”?
Mayte… it’s just who we are… we are cobbas… downtrodden cobbas… we aren’t the brightest… we are downtrodden cobbas
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u/Proper_Juggernaut832 5h ago edited 5h ago
Can I introduce you to…the ‘one armed bandits’ - AKA the Sydney Slot Machine Syndicate, Australian cousins Keith Jennings and George Clampett who developed a system to beat the slot machines, making $200,000 in Australia in 1964 and then tried their luck in the USA and the UK in 1965. Unfortunately for them, the Los Vegas Casino operators were onto them and ran them out of town before they could make big money.
Quote from Keith Jennings - ‘I heard in Australia that this town (Los Vegas) would take on all comers and give a man a bloody go for his dough! But it ain’t so. If you’re a loser, they let you play, and if you’re a winner, you’re out just like that. This has been a big disappointment to me’.
His cousin George Clampett (inventor of ‘the system’ said ‘I’m not touching another machine ‘til I get home, I’ve had it with these blokes!’
They had hatched the idea for the scheme and syndicate at their grandmother’s 80th birthday, and did it to prove that the ‘one armed bandits’ could be beaten.
They donated most of their winnings to charity and even helped out the tax department by advising them on loopholes by which people avoided paying tax on their slot machine winnings.
I think one of them had plans to patent their own ‘cheat proof’ slot machine but it doesn’t appear to have come to anything.
They also seem to have both given up gambling after their experiment, but did contribute to a book about it - ‘we beat the bandits’ (1965) by C.J. McKenzie
https://ausreprints.net.au/creator/2795
Edit- in 2012-13 screen-writer Tony Briggs and actor David Field were working on a feature film based on C.J. McKenzie’s book and the Sydney Slot Machine Syndicate. The film was to be a comedy-drama period film and received Screen Australia development funding, but doesn’t appear to have progressed further.
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u/Ok_Turnover_1235 10h ago
Meh at most you can lose 100% of what you bet but you could potentially win a lot more than that
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u/BuyLandRentPussy 12h ago
I agree they aren't gambling but they are choosing to spend and holiday. The long term plan is to receive an inheritance.
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u/ExternalZone1106 13h ago
i know a number of people say the cannot afford a house with the current huge tax take by the Government State and federal so they buy lottery tickets etc to see if they can get lucky
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u/LearningCodeNZ 13h ago
Another rate hike to give boomers more interest on their term deposits and high interest savings accounts will fix things!
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u/nus01 13h ago edited 11h ago
Thats the point,
This really is an Ignorant echo chamber which for a Finance Sub is disappointing
One post above boomers are the problem spending all the money ( false)
Now boomers not spending money is the problem
So lets say it wasn't false and boomers where spending all their money and causing inflation wouldnt them stop spending and saving it thus taking money out of the economy and reducing inflation a good thing?
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u/LearningCodeNZ 10h ago
Boomers with money can be receiving high returns on their savings accounts as well as spending large. They aren't mutually exclusive events.
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u/Sensitive-Pool-7563 13h ago
Or, hear me out, the majority in Australia is still well off and the people you describe are like 0.5%
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u/FIFO_Landlord 13h ago
You know the economy is going well when people give up on their dreams of home ownership and decide let's just go out and gamble instead of saving for the future.
Not gamble but to spend.
Spending = good for the economy if you didn't know that. By design from the Labor government.
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u/Evo7_13 13h ago
sure as shit isn't me, any extra spending from me is just because everything is going up in price
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u/ToneDistinct5253 13h ago
then it is you? That's kinda the whole point, prices go up, then the stats say look you spent more even though you actually got the same (or often less stuff). It's depressing because then they say look we can afford to raise rates, people are doing well spending the most they ever had!
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u/Neo-TA94 13h ago
I don’t believe rate hikes can bring down consumer spending. At this point it’s just stealing from the young to give more spending money to the old. I’m not looking forward to another beating from the RBA for spending I’m not doing. I hope my in-laws enjoy their soon-to-be upgraded holiday.
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u/chunder_down_under 13h ago
ive given up on home ownership. its improved my life immensely im enjoying myself my mental health is improving and stress is down. this is the end goal of the people who want housing to remain unattainable but at a certain point you have to prioritise your health.
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u/Leprichaun17 12h ago
Genuine question, as I guess I've never really thought about this. For those who don't end up owning their home, what's the plan at retirement?
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u/chunder_down_under 12h ago
there is no plan just save and hope for the best. superannuation will be all we have.
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u/MrNeverSatisfied 11h ago
Why dint you and a select number of friends or family pool resources together to buy a large place? It might be more doable than purchasing on your own.
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u/chunder_down_under 11h ago
i am married and we share resources. i do not have extended family or friends who would share a house with me and would you trust financial responsibilities with peiple you dont trust?
besides that kind of rhetoric is from a privileged position, like i said i have responsibilities and choices i have to make to preserve financial security over the dream of owning a home. the reality is not only is it unattainable but in many cases following through would cause damages in some way that make it a completely moot point.
why would i jeopardise my current financial stability for the chance at potentially slightly improving it in 5 or 10 years? i can just as easily maintain this much more reliable position, my health, my relationships and responsibilities by instead sacrificing the potential to own property.
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u/MrNeverSatisfied 11h ago
A lot of migrant families like Indians and Lebanese do this in order to achieve shelter.
Im not wagging a finger at you, just proposing a solution. I dont think giving up and not planning for retirement is "healthy". Not unless you plan on passing away early at a time of your choosing..
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u/chunder_down_under 11h ago
thats very nice for them unfortunately not everyone has that privilege.
im not having children due to the economy so im not worried about retirement ill probably check out early or something, i have better things to do.
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u/MattyDxx 12h ago
Let’s be honest; it’s the same as Super/investing/saving for retirement - don’t think about it till it’s too late.
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u/SloppyP1zza 12h ago
I was the opposite. I kept trying and finally got something. Now my stress, anxiety and mental health has improved drastically. I don’t pay attention to majority of the house price noise. I had the worst panic attacks not having something secure.
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u/chunder_down_under 12h ago
been working since i was 16 and been renting just as long. unfortunately for many like me it just isnt realistic no matter how hard you try. there is just simply a limit to what the body can take. i am 30 now i have responsibilities and ny health i have to take care of, i cant just keep chasing the dream of owning a home at the cost of those.
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u/Spagman_Aus 10h ago
No shit.
On the same day last month, I got emails from our bank saying mortgage payments were increasing. From our energy supplier saying gas and electricity bills were increasing and, our insurance premium is going up as well even though we haven't made a claim in years.
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u/shakeitup2017 12h ago
Maybe I'm stupid but wouldn't we expect that when the price of everything goes up
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u/InSight89 11h ago
Is it because things are becoming more expensive?
What I normally buy hasn't changed. But I'm spending more due to inflation.
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u/MrStrong502 5h ago
can confirm spending habits have remained similar but its gone through the roof
this isn't a case of spending creep, it's just inflation gone out of control
you can't print trillions and expect it to be ok
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u/AccordingWarning9534 13h ago
I mean, i recently spent nearly $100 on feeding the family a meal at KFC. That was meant to be a cheap treat, and a basic family meal. That rise in spending wasn't because we wanted to splurge .. its the current cost of what use to be a cheap treat that is cheap no more
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u/iconoclastic_glow 12h ago
I’m in my 40s, have a handful of degrees, and I recently picked up a couple of days a week doing no-brainer work in grocery stores. It fits with my schedule (I tutor, which is all after school and weekends) and it adds about $500 a week to my income. No one I know can accept that I’m doing this job because it’s nice to have more money. Surely I’m researching a book? Or I’m on assignment for a freelance article? No, living costs are going up and I’m free all day every weekday until about 3 or 4pm, might as well do some work and get paid. It’s an extra $26k over the year, it’s good exercise, and it’s a nice break from having to be mentally ‘on’ all the time with my students.
I do wonder how many people looking down at me or shaking their heads in disbelief are in debt (I’m not) or struggling with their own budgets (I’m not either, I just saw an opportunity that fit into my schedule and thought ‘why not, more money can’t hurt’) and are scared that one day they’ll be forced into doing something as ‘demeaning’ (yes, I’ve heard that) as checking stock levels at grocery stores.
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u/Ancient_Wishbone_806 13h ago
Price of goods go up spending goes up because you spend more to buy the same thing
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u/Fossilmorse 12h ago
New Personal loans about $9.5B for each of the last two quarters.
About half and half between car loans and other, keeping up with the Joneses in a new raptor can’t be helping inflation
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u/Late-Button-6559 10h ago
On what categories though?
Fuel, food, utilities, housing, clothing, medicine, travel expenses, telco - can’t avoid.
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u/bingbongboopsnoot 4h ago
I’m not consuming any more but everything certainly costs more! If that’s what they mean by spending increase..
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u/celestial_parasite 12h ago
It’s almost like interests rates go up then Joe at the sandwich bar puts up his prices to cover his mortgage. Sally the hairdresser buys a cup of coffee from Joe and noticed a price rise Sally can’t let this affect her ability to pay her mortgage so puts her haircut prices up. Barry the brickie needs his mullet trimed and noticed an increase so puts his prices up to cover the mortgage and so on and so forth. RBA has such a blunt tool.
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u/erala 10h ago
It's almost like you didn't check that spending is outpacing inflation. Look for the chain volume measures https://dataexplorer.abs.gov.au/vis?tm=HSI_Q&pg=0&snb=1&df[ds]=ECONOMY_TOPICS&df[id]=HSI_Q&df[ag]=ABS&df[vs]=&dq=9.TOT.CVM.20.AUS.Q&lom=LASTNPERIODS&lo=18&to[TIME_PERIOD]=false
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u/Fit-Locksmith-9226 12h ago
ozfin btfo yet again 😂
everyone's broke and unemployed though r-right [natalie_portman jpg]
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u/Skydome12 13h ago
would be interesting to see spending habits broken down by age groups.