Family spending continues to rise because of streaming, gaming, and tech upgrades

The most recent information from Commonwealth Financial institution’s Family Spending Insights index has revealed a continued upward development for shopper spending in September, with households primarily spending on digital companies and utilities.

Spending climbed 0.6 per cent for the month, persevering with the good points for the twelfth month in a row, and has introduced the annual progress fee to 7.5 per cent, its strongest tempo since Might 2023.

The report famous that the most important month-to-month good points have been seen in utilities (+1.4 per cent) and communications and digital (+1.1 per cent), the identical classes that registered the spending good points in August.

Particularly, spending on on-line gaming surged 38 per cent year-on-year, whereas video streaming rose 31 per cent and pc {hardware} spending jumped 21 per cent, with the discharge of the iPhone 17 and widespread streaming exhibits resembling The Summer season I Turned Fairly serving to gas the digital uplift throughout that interval. CommBank famous that digital spending is now a structural characteristic of family budgets and might not be thought-about a passing development.

Power prices are additionally famous to have contributed to the upswing, with rebates being phased out, utility bills have elevated, pushing that class’s annual rise to 16.6 per cent. Even when utilities are excluded, underlying spending progress nonetheless stands at 6.4 per cent.

Belinda Allen, head of Australian economics at CommBank, stated the sustained upward momentum suggests a extra upbeat shopper backdrop.

“Decrease rates of interest, moderating inflation and tax cuts final yr have created a extra beneficial setting for customers,” she stated, “The constant circulate of knowledge displaying spending progress helps our view that Australia’s shopper cycle is popping upward.”

Nonetheless, Allen cautioned that the development might even see a downturn sooner or later as households proceed to navigate cost-of-living pressures. “The query now’s whether or not this momentum will lengthen into summer season or if households will revert to a extra cautious stance given low ranges of shopper sentiment,” she stated.