30 Mar 2022
Inflation is still not hitting spending as Australians looked forward to a restriction-free break over the Easter school holidays.
ANZ-observed spending excluding petrol for the week to 14 April was up 9 per cent year-on-year (before an expected dip during the Easter public holidays).
"Confident households are keen to travel. Google searches for cheap flights to Sydney and Melbourne have tripled since January.”
Non-food retail was up 6 per cent year-on-year while dining was up 4.5 per cent year-on-year during the week to 14 April.
Confident households are keen to travel. Google searches for cheap flights to Sydney and Melbourne have tripled since January and so has ANZ-observed travel agent spending.
Strong spending on accommodation and transport (including local car services, public transport services and airfares) signals households are not slowing down discretionary spending, despite heightened awareness of inflation.
Local discretionary spending on dining and entertainment has also risen quickly since January.
Interestingly, central business district (CBD) visitors are coming back faster than workers.
Weekday café transactions still show workers are keen to stay home although CBD accommodation spending is rapidly improving.
Shopping in-store in Melbourne and Sydney is also drifting up. The national share of shopping, dining and grocery spending that occurs online seems to have stabilised.
Adelaide Timbrell is a Senior Economist at ANZ
The views and opinions expressed in this communication are those of the author and may not necessarily state or reflect those of ANZ.
30 Mar 2022
13 Apr 2022