Major spending in last 12 months
Q. In the last 12 months have you -
|
28 May 12 |
Total 8 Apr 13 |
Vote ALP |
Vote Lib |
Vote Greens |
Financial situation satisfactory |
Neither satisfactory nor un- |
Financial situation un- |
|
| Bought a house or other property |
10% |
10% |
11% |
11% |
11% |
13% |
7% |
5% |
| Bought a new car |
12% |
12% |
10% |
15% |
12% |
17% |
10% |
5% |
| Bought a used car |
17% |
13% |
14% |
13% |
12% |
14% |
11% |
13% |
| Renovated your current home |
17% |
16% |
17% |
16% |
18% |
22% |
13% |
6% |
| Purchased a major household item (stove, TV, Fridge, furniture etc.) |
39% |
40% |
42% |
41% |
49% |
47% |
36% |
30% |
| Taken an overseas holiday |
30% |
34% |
29% |
35% |
39% |
44% |
24% |
21% |
| Taken an Australian holiday |
45% |
46% |
41% |
49% |
52% |
56% |
39% |
28% |
| Paid private school fees |
12% |
11% |
9% |
15% |
6% |
11% |
14% |
12% |
| Bought shares |
13% |
12% |
10% |
14% |
16% |
17% |
8% |
3% |
The most common major spending items over the last 12 months were holidays in Australia (46%), purchase of major household item (40%) and overseas holidays (34%). Spending results were similar to those recorded last May.
Spending rate of those who consider their financial situation unsatisfactory was about half that of those who were satisfied for most items. Whereas taking an Australian holidays was the most common item of major spending for those satisfied (56%) and the neither group (39%), those who were dissatisfied were more likely to have purchased a major household item (30%).
Christmas spending on credit cards
Q. How much of your Christmas spending will you put on your credit cards?
|
5 Dec 11 |
3 Dec 12 |
|
| All or most of it |
23% |
26% |
| A bit more than half |
7% |
8% |
| About half |
9% |
7% |
| A bit less than half |
5% |
5% |
| Not much |
17% |
10% |
| None of it |
37% |
36% |
| Won’t be buying Christmas gifts |
na |
4% |
| Don’t know |
3% |
4% |
41% say they will put at least half their Christmas spending on credit cards – and a further 15% will put some spending on their credit cards.
Those most likely to use credit cards for at least half their spending were aged 35-44 (54%) and those least likely were aged 18-24 (18%). Those on higher incomes were much more likely to use their credit cards for Christmas spending – 55% of those on incomes over $1,600pw said they would put at least half on credit cards compared to only 20% of those on incomes under $600pw.
Spending
Q. Compared to 12 months ago, are you spending more or less on the following -
| Total spending more | Total spending less | Spending a lot more | Spending a little more | Spending about the same | Spending a little less | Spending a lot less | Don’t know | |
| Food and groceries | 60% | 10% | 20% | 40% | 30% | 7% | 3% | 1% |
| Gas and electricity | 70% | 9% | 36% | 34% | 20% | 5% | 4% | 1% |
| Telephone and internet services | 38% | 11% | 11% | 27% | 49% | 9% | 2% | 1% |
| Entertainment such as cinemas and restaurants | 20% | 39% | 5% | 15% | 38% | 20% | 19% | 3% |
| Retail products such as clothing and electrical goods | 20% | 38% | 5% | 15% | 41% | 22% | 16% | 1% |
70% say they are spending more on gas and electricity and 60% say they are spending more on food and groceries. But they were more likely to be spending less on entertainment (20% more/39% less) and other retail products (20% more/38% less).
Perceptions of spending on food and groceries is similar across demographic groups. However, older respondents are more likely to say they are spending more on gas and electricity (80% of those aged 55+) and less on entertainment (46% of those aged 55+). For those aged under 35, 28% are spending more on entertainment and 34% less.
There is a similar pattern for spending on retail products – for those aged under 35, 27% are spending more and 32% less while for those aged 55+, 15% are spending more and 44% less.
Essential Report
Two Party Preferred: 20 May 2013
In this week's report:
3Q: Latest episodes
-
Essential Report with EMC’s Peter Lewis and Jackie Woods
Comments19 Sep 2012Lewis and Woods talk through this week’s polling numbers: voting intention, leader attributes, drug laws in Australia, and more…
-
Are we ready for the grey revolution?
Comments12 Sep 2012Ken Morrison says our cities need to be transformed for our ageing population – and it’s not solely about nursing homes.
-
Ships, trains and submarines — can we build them here?
Comments11 Sep 2012Tim Ayres wishes Clive Palmer and other mining giants would give local manufacturers a go instead of heading overseas.
-
Do we undervalue our public sector innovations?
Comments11 Sep 2012Nadine Flood questions whether governments take our science and other publicly funded breakthroughs for granted.
Essential Tags
Recent Comments
- Workers Care About Kids At Risk on Would You Ask Your Grandmother To Live On $35 A Day?
- Morgan on Federal politics – voting intention
- Krusha on Time for Activities
- Jonathan Tasini on We Can’t Eat Austerity
- Clarkejeremy3 on We Can’t Eat Austerity
