Average daily spending climbs 10% as tax refunds arrive

The first month of financial year 2024 saw Aussies splashing their cash, sending their average daily spend to an 11-month high.

That’s according to Beforepay’s monthly Cost of Living Index, for which the ‘pay on demand’ provider pooled data from more than 400,000 users.

“Tax refunds have provided a welcome respite for a number of Australians, enabling them to catch up on durables spending and even spend a bit on leisure,” Beforepay CEO Jamie Twiss said.

“We’d also encourage people to take the opportunity to pay down debt if they have some, and put away some savings if possible.”

The average Australian’s spending lifted from $58.88 a day in June to $65.13 a day in July.

The increase was largely driven by a 23% jump in spending on durable goods such as electronics and whitegoods.

Discretionary spending on entertainment and leisure climbed 15%, as did spending on food and drink (outside of groceries), coming in at an average of $3.52 and $12.02 a day respectively. 

Meanwhile, Aussies using the app handed over an average of $15.85 a day at the supermarket – an 8% month-on-month increase – and car-related costs rose 7% to average at $7.99 a day.

July’s average spend marked the highest the figure has been since August 2022.

Though, it’s still 2% lower than it was in July 2022, when the average consumer was forking out $66.46 each day. 

Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found employees’ living costs climbed 1.5% in the June quarter, outpacing the official inflation rate over the prior year.

Much of that was due to rising home loan repayments, bolstered by the rate hiking spree kicked off by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in May 2022. 

The central bank appears to have let its foot off the gas of its rate hiking spree, once again holding the cash rate at 4.1% last week.

Still, the number of homeowners choosing to refinance their mortgage to a better rate rocketed nearly 14% last financial year.

Interestingly however, the latest retail turnover figures surprised on the downside, falling 0.8% month-on-month in June to around $35.2 billion.

The fall was largely attributed to below-average spending at end of financial year sales amid rising cost-of-living pressures.

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