CommBank research has confirmed a year-on-year decline in spending across surf and swimwear stores in June 2025 compared to the same month last year.
This is despite an overall strengthening in household goods spending year-on-year, hitting 6.4 per cent in June, up from 5.8 per cent in May.
The spending drop in surf and swim comes as Surfstitch was placed into administration as Nike came knocking for an alleged unpaid debt. A month prior to this, Surfstitch’s now-former parent company Alquemie sold the brand assets to a mystery buyer.
It also comes as the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed a warmer start to winter in 2025.
Tobacconists and online deal websites also offset the yearly growth in household goods spending.
Online marketplaces and discount department stores led the charge in yearly household spending growth, followed by booms in men’s and women’s clothing stores and department stores.
Month-on-month, household goods spending lifted 0.5 per cent, which is the fifth consecutive monthly rise since February this year.
The rise in household goods spending added to the third monthly rise in the CommBank Household Spending Insights (HSI) Index in June, up 0.3 per cent following gains of 0.4 per cent in April and May.
Eight of the twelve HSI categories recorded spending growth for the month, led by utilities (up 2.9 per cent), education (up 1.1 per cent) and communications and digital (up 1.0 per cent). The timing of the energy rebates has made the utilities category choppy, while the release of Nintendo Switch 2 likely supported sales in the communications and digital category.
Three categories saw a fall in the month, led by hospitality (down 0.8 per cent), motor vehicle (down 0.1 per cent) and recreation (down 0.1 per cent). These categories all performed relatively well in May, with CommBank noting this shows the fickle nature of consumer spending currently.
“Household spending is starting to show signs of consistency month-on-month and should continue to pick up this year as consumers begin to loosen their purse strings,” CBA senior economist Belinda Allen said. “This recovery is taking longer than expected to occur, but there are green shoots emerging.
“The annual growth rate has picked up, but the recovery is not yet assured. Spending around sales events and new items show consumers are still deliberate on their spending decisions.”
At the same time, Allen said there remains a clear preference to save and pay down debt.
“Recent data from CBA showed that just 10 per cent of eligible home loan customers chose to reduce their mortgage direct debit payments following the May interest rate cut,” she said. “This follows a similar trend after the February rate cut when around 10 per cent of eligible customers had adjusted repayments at the same point in time - eventually rising to 14 percent before the May RBA decision.”
Taking the whole of June quarter together, the HSI lifted by 1.4 per cent, just a little above the 1.2 per cent recorded in the March quarter, but still below the 1.6 per cent recorded in the December quarter of 2024.
Allen said the RBA’s decision this week to hold rates at 3.85 per cent in July was “unexpected”, but she and her team anticipate the RBA to cut the cash rate in August by 25 basis points, with November the most likely option for a follow up rate cut.
“While we still anticipate a pickup in household spending in 2025, a slower rate cutting cycle could soften this recovery over the remainder of the year,” Allen said.
In June, homeowners without a mortgage saw the weakest yearly spending growth per capita at 3.5 per cent, continuing the trend from May. Homeowners with a mortgage saw a shift higher in spending in June, with gains over the past year now tracking at 5.2 per cent. Meanwhile renters saw a lift to 4.2 per cent.
According to Allen, homeowners with a mortgage have reduced spending on transport, hospitality, and food and beverage goods over the past year but lower interest rates are expected to boost disposable income in the coming months.
Renters continue to spend more following an increase in April and May.
Across the states, New South Wales recorded the strongest household spending growth in June, rising 0.7 per cent. Over the past year, NSW has outperformed nationally, up 8.4 per cent in a change at the top of the state leaderboard.
Meanwhile Queensland has grown 7.3 per cent, recovering well from ex-tropical cyclone Alfred in March, when the state posted the softest growth of all states at just 0.2 per cent.