Retail Trade

Retail trade declined by a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in December, significantly less than the 0.7% fall pencilled in by the market consensus. In the entirety of Q4, retail sales rose by a nominal 1.4%, with volumes up by 1.0% and prices increasing by 0.4%. Retail trade volumes per capita picked up 0.5% in Q4, the first increase since Q2 2022.

Retail trade rose a seasonally adjusted 0.8% in November, (mkt exp. 1.0%), following a revised 0.5% increase in October (originally 0.6%). Annual growth in retail sales eased to 3.0%, from 3.5% in October.

Retail trade rose a seasonally adjusted 0.6% in October, somewhat more than the consensus market forecast of 0.4%. According to the ABS, the strong retail sales outcome in October resulted from some retailers starting their discounting ahead of the Black Friday sales.

Retail trade rose a seasonally adjusted 0.1% in September, less than the 0.3% pencilled in by the market consensus. This subdued increase followed a 0.7% rise in August.

Retail trade rose a seasonally adjusted 0.7% in August, almost double the 0.4% pencilled in by the market consensus. The August increase followed an upwardly revised uptick to 0.1% in July (initially estimated at 0.0%).

Seasonally adjusted retail trade was flat in July, against market expectations of a 0.3% gain. The annual rate of growth in retail sales slowed to a two-month low of 2.3%. Trend growth, which looks through the short-term volatility, slowed to 0.2% in the month, but remained steady at 2.2% through the year.