CBA’s household spending index rebounds in February

CBA has released its Household Spending Index (HSI) for February, which is based on the largest consumer spending data set in Australia.

This index has historically closely tracked the ABS’ non-seasonally adjusted National Accounts measure of nominal household final consumption (see next chart). Therefore, the HSI can be considered a leading indicator for household consumption.

The HSI index rose 1.8% in February 2022, to 107.3. The improvement in February comes after a revised fall of -9.5%/mth in January. At 107.3 the HSI index is above the level recorded in September 2021 – as the effects of the Delta variant were fading and before Omicron arrived.