![\"AUSTRALIA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/e27c9a963a485d65718c865825ea0d1c.jpeg\")
Households are still spending more despite cost-of-living pressures. Picture: NewsWire \/ John Appleyard <\/p>\n Households are still spending more despite cost-of-living pressures. Picture: NewsWire \/ John Appleyard <\/p>\n
Australian renters and those aged above 65 are the two groups of Australians still spending despite facing higher cost-of-living pressures.<\/p>\n
Commonwealth Bank figures show household spending rose by 0.2 per cent in May following a 1.2 per cent slump in April.<\/p>\n
Of the 12 categories, seven recorded positive gains in May, while five fell.<\/p>\n
The largest gains were in recreation, up 2.3 per cent, and hospitality, up 1 per cent over the month.<\/p>\n
Households are still spending more despite cost-of-living pressures. Picture: NewsWire \/ John Appleyard <\/p>\n
This was largely due to a lift in travel spending, which has recovered since the outbreak of the US\/Iran war, while at the same time large events such as State of Origin have added to household spending.<\/p>\n
Commonwealth Bank head of Australian economics Belinda Allen said households were still spending more.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile higher interest rates and inflation are weighing on households, consumers were willing to spend on experiences like travel, dining and events during the month of May,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Commonwealth Bank, which divides spenders into owners with a mortgage, owners outright, and renters, found renters were spending the most money.<\/p>\n
The bank\u2019s credit card data shows renters lifted spending across nine of the 12 categories over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n
Hospitality is at the top of the list for renters, compared with the fourth strongest across those who own a home and those who have a mortgage, while utilities and household services also moved up.<\/p>\n
Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock announced the official cash rate would be left on hold in June despite persistent inflation. Picture: NewsWire \/ John Appleyard <\/p>\n
Households with a mortgage are slowing their spending comparatively, largely due to higher interest rates.<\/p>\n
While the RBA held the official cash rate at 4.35 per cent in June, three previous rate hikes in a row by a total of 75 basis points put further pressure on those with a mortgage.<\/p>\n
At the same time, inflation remains well above the RBA\u2019s 2.5 per cent target, with the headline rate at 4.2 per cent.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, separate spending data from National Australia Bank, which breaks down spending by age, found it was younger and older Aussies who were spending more.<\/p>\n
According to NAB, the largest growing sector is those aged over 65, whose spending is up 7.7 per cent over the last 12 months.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, younger Aussies aged 25-34 are the only other group increasing their spending, albeit from a lower base.<\/p>\n
NAB says total spending was stronger than Commonwealth\u2019s figures, up 1.1 per cent for May or 6.5 per cent over the year.<\/p>\n
NAB head of Australian economics Gareth Spence said consumer spending was not falling away despite the ongoing pressures from essential spending.<\/p>\n
Non-discretionary spending actually fell 0.9 per cent, due to a temporary halving of the fuel excise, while discretionary spending was up 2.4 per cent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Households are still spending more despite cost-of-living pressures. Picture: NewsWire \/ John Appleyard Australian renters and those aged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":748807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[64,63,99,96,21375,42037,164,42038],"class_list":["post-748806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-commonwealth-bank","tag-consumer-spending","tag-discretionary-spending","tag-economy","tag-household-spending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}