Spending on vehicles hits two-year low

Retail card spending on motor vehicles fell by $2.4 million – or 1.3 per cent – in December, when compared with the numbers seen in the month prior.

The industry’s seasonally adjusted figure for last month was $182m, the lowest monthly amount recorded in at least the past two years.

The motor vehicles sector was the only retail category to record a month-on-month decline, according to the figures from Stats NZ. 

December’s total also represented a drop of $25m, or 12.1 per cent, from the same month of 2023 when $207m was splurged on motor vehicles using electronic cards.

The latest seasonally adjusted values from Stats NZ show overall spending in the retail industries rose by $130m, or two per cent, between November and December last year.

Durables helped drive the increase after climbing by $57m and 3.7 per cent, and spending on fuel was up $19m, or 3.8 per cent, over the same period.

In actual terms, cardholders made 183 million transactions across all industries in December, with an average value of $58 per transaction. The total amount spent using cards was $11 billion.

As for the December 2024 quarter, retail card spending on motor vehicles was down $7.7m, or 1.4 per cent, from the figures achieved in the September quarter.

The seasonally adjusted total came in at $554m, the lowest level since the September 2021 quarter when it was $488m.

Overall spending in the retail industries for the last three months of 2024 totalled $27.4 billion. This was an increase of $203m, or 1.1 per cent, from the previous quarter.