Victoria remains the strongest for retail spending

The measure used was real (inflation-adjusted) retail trade in seasonally adjusted terms with September quarter data
the latest available.

Victoria leads on ‘real’ retail spending

A solid job market, rising wages, strong construction and renovation activity have supported retail spending over the
past quarter. Spending has lifted despite weak consumer sentiment, cost of living pressures and higher interest rates.

Victoria again leads the way on retail spending, up 17.7 per cent in the September quarter from its decade-average levels.

Queensland remains in second place with spending 16.4 per cent above its ‘normal’ levels or the decade average.

Moving from fifth to third spot is the ACT with real spending up 15.3 per cent above decade-average levels. NSW remains in fourth position, with spending 14.9 per cent up on ‘normal’ levels. Tasmania is now in fifth position
(down from third) with spending up 14.4 per cent on the long-term average.

At the other end of the rankings, Northern Territory spending was up 1.6 per cent on the decade average,
behind South Australia (up 10.8 per cent) and Western Australia (up 13.2 per cent).

The ACT has the fastest annual growth

In terms of annual growth of real retail trade, the ACT is the strongest (up 18.2 per cent), ahead of NSW (up 17.8 per cent) and Victoria (up 12 per cent).

At the other end of the scale, retail spending in Tasmania was down 0.9 per cent, behind the Northern Territory (up 0.7 per cent), Western Australia (up 1.8 per cent), South Australia (up 3.4 per cent) and Queensland (up 4.7 per cent).

If monthly retail trade was assessed instead to calculate the rankings (November data is available), Victoria would still be in top spot, ahead of Queensland, the ACT and NSW.

In November, annual spending growth was fastest in Queensland (up 10.4 per cent) from South Australia (up 9.5 per cent) and Western Australia (up 9.1 per cent).

Originally published by CommSec