In this podcast, NAB Chief Economist, Alan Oster gives you a 10 minute summary of our analysis of consumer spending.

Listen to the full podcast now. If listening on a mobile device, click listen in browser.

Overview

Slower spending growth this week, but still positive. Spending was up 5.7% y/y in the week ending December 5 (8.8% last week), and positive in all states, led by QLD and the NT. Hospitality spend also grew for the fifth consecutive week, after having fallen in each week from March 21 to October 31 (33 weeks straight).

In this edition we take a closer look at how selected retail and hospitality spending in the CBDs of Melbourne and Sydney have fared this year. Unsurprisingly, Melbourne’s CBD has seen big hits to spend this year. While spending in Greater Melbourne and regional Victoria has rapidly recovered, CBD data is much less buoyant, particularly in areas such as hospitality. For example, a year ago, cafes, restaurants & takeaways in the CBD captured 21% of all Greater Melbourne’s spend in this sector. As of last week, it was only 11%. While Sydney avoided much of the second wave, spending in the Sydney CBD is also well down on last year.

Business inflows grew 7.7% in 6 week rolling y/y terms this week, with much of this again driven by Finance (Asset Management). Hospitality still struggling, but Arts & Rec, Retail and Transport (particularly Warehousing) out-performing.

For further details please see NAB Data Insights 10 December 2020 Report

*During these extraordinary times we have taken the decision to publish aggregated customer data categorised by industry segment with the view to helping provide clarity around which segments of the economy have been most affected by the broader macroeconomic trends at play. NAB takes data privacy very seriously. All customer transaction data has been aggregated and no individual’s data is specifically identified or analysed as part of this process. The data used in this report will not be sold or made publicly available, but insights from the data will be shared with the Australian people.