Overview

• Total consumer spending grew 0.7% in July, a slight slowdown relative to the run rate of the past couple of months.
• Growth in total retail slowed to 0.2% following a period of strong gains in May and June.
• Spending on goods remained stable last month while services spending increased 1.4%. Spending on services has increased twice as much as spending on goods over the past year.
• Discretionary spending rose 0.5% m/m, and non-discretionary spending grew 0.9% m/m.  The increase in non-discretion spending this month was mainly driven by an increase in spending on media & communications after a number of large providers increased prices.

Monthly Consumer Spending

• Total spending rose 0.7% m/m, to be up 2.5% in 3-month average terms and up 8.0% over the past 12 months (in nominal terms).
• All states and territories, except for ACT, experienced an increase in spending last month, with Queensland leading the growth.
• Retail spending grew 0.2% in July, slowing from the strong growth seen in May and June. Overall, total retail increased 2.2% in 3-month average terms and 7.1% y/y.
• Spending on vehicles & fuel decreased 0.3% m/m, while spending on essential services and other categories went up 1.9% and 0.9% m/m, respectively.

For further details please see NAB Monthly Data Insights (July 2025)