October NAB Consumer Spend Trend - consumer spending on a strong footing

20 November 2025 
Consumer Spending  Economy and Markets

• Spending up 0.7% in October
• NSW strongest performer (+1.3% MoM)
• Older households (65+) lead annual growth at 10.4% YoY

NAB’s October Consumer Spend Trend report shows consumer spending kicked off Q4 strongly, rising 0.7% in October with gains across discretionary categories and utilities as energy rebates ended.

The NAB Consumer Spend Trend is a new report from NAB Economics and uses the bank's electronic transaction data to paint a complete picture of household spending in Australia across a number of expenditure categories. Spending data is also analysed by geography, age, income and by borrower status (mortgage or no mortgage).

NAB Chief Economist Dr Sally Auld said the monthly report provided a timely insight into consumer spending across Australia.

“The message from today’s release is that consumer spending has started the fourth quarter on a strong footing. Spending rose 0.7% in October, with strong gains across a number of discretionary categories such as personal goods, recreation and personal services and cafes and restaurants. Spending on utilities and telecoms recorded a large rise in the month as government energy bill rebates ended,” Dr Auld said.

“By geography, NSW consumers delivered the strongest spending in October (1.3% mom). By age, older households (65+) are recording the strongest annual growth in spending, a similar outcome to this time last year (10.4% yoy). By income quintile, there is minimal variation in annual growth rates. Nonetheless, data for October reveal that the lowest income quintile is growing spending at the fastest annual rate (7.1% yoy). Interestingly, there is now little variation in spending growth rates between those households with a mortgage and those without.”

For more detail on how Aussies are spending, read the full October NAB Consumer Spend Trend report (PDF, 580KB).