Daily spending swelled by 6.1% to $58,88 in June, primarily driven by a 26.1% lift in shopping expenses, with the average daily spending up to $8.30 in June, from $6.48 the prior month, and was up 4.7% from $56.24 in June 2022.
This was according to the Beforepay Cost of Living Index, which was drawn from the spending data of more than 400,000 Australians to provide a comprehensive overview of consumer spending.
Spending across all categories lifted last month, with the largest rises seen across discretionary spending categories, which may be due to a combination of end-of-financial-year sales and continued inflation.
After shopping expenses, which includes items such as clothing, footwear, and cosmetics, the second largest category to see a surge in spending was durable goods, which was up 9.1% to $6.55 in June, from $6.01 the month before.
Spending on fitness and health saw a moderate rise, up 7.2% to $2.39 in June from May, as did entertainment and leisure expenses, which rose 5.5% to $3.05 last month.
Changes in daily spending on necessities were minimal, with groceries lifting by just 0.6% month-on-month to $14.70 in June, and petrol and auto up by 1.5% to $3.05 over the same period.
Utilities climbed 3.8% from $5.76 to $5.98 in June, although this may be due to rising energy costs, the BeforePay Cost of Living Index showed.
“As the cost of living continues to increase, we understand the growing complexity that Australians face in trying to budget and plan their daily expenses,” said Geoff Chang, lead machine learning engineer at Beforepay.
“We seek to help customers take better control of their finances and make more informed spending decisions by providing tools and insights that are available in the Beforepay app.”
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