The poor run of consumer data continues with the value of Australian retail sales growing only 0.3% in February, missing economists’ expectations of a 0.4% increase:
Retail sales grew by only 1.6% year-on-year, well below the circa 2.5% population growth and 3.4% CPI inflation.
The soft result came despite the stimulus from the Taylor Swift concerns down the East Coast.
“Seven sold-out Taylor Swift concerts in Sydney and Melbourne boosted retail spending this month, with over 600,000 Swifties flocking to these events. This led to increased spending on clothing, merchandise, accessories and dining out”, noted Ben Dorber, ABS head of retail statistics.
“Looking past the temporary and one-off impact of the Taylor Swift concerts, underlying growth in retail turnover was up only 0.1% in trend terms”.
“After a period of higher volatility from November through to January, underlying spending has stagnated”, Dorber said.
The soft retail sales follow the sharp decline in per capita household consumption reported in the Q4 national accounts earlier this month:
The Australian consumer is clearly struggling under the weight of soft income growth, mortgage repayments, rents, income taxes, and overall cost-of-living pressures.
