New data from the Commonwealth Bank has found that young Australians aged 18 to 29 are spending less on essentials, “in response to cost of living pressures”.
CommBank compared the spending habits of around 7 million Australians for its latest cost of living report.
It found people in regional parts of the country are spending more than their city-based counterparts. The report said property and rent price increases had likely impacted slower spending growth in metro areas.
Types of spending
CommBank compared two types of expenses — essentials (e.g. groceries, petrol, medical expenses and insurance) and discretionary items (e.g. travel, streaming subscriptions and food delivery services.)
Essentials spending by young Australians (18 to 29) fell 2.3% in the year to 30 September. This is compared to an overall decrease of 1.7% for essentials.
Young Australians’ discretionary spending fell by 1.9% compared to an overall increase in discretionary items of 1.3%.
Age gap
CommBank described a “generational spending gap” between younger and older Australians.
Between 2023 and 2024, overall spending declined among 18 to 39-year-olds. Head of Innovation and Analytics Wade Tubman attributed this decrease to “cost of living pressures” which he said were being felt across a “large swathe of the population”.
“By contrast, those aged 60-69 increased spending by 3.9% and over 70s by 7.7%,” the report said.
Trends
People aged 18 to 29 spent 5% less on travel for the 12 months to September 30.
In the same period, Australians aged 70 and over spent 12% more on travel.
Tubman said: “The fact that spending has increased on food delivery and streaming services suggests consumers are foregoing meals out to treat themselves at home.”
“Consumers are also opting for discount purchases online, reflecting an environment of belt-tightening,” he added.
