Vehicle spending drops by $1.8m

Retail card spending on motor vehicles fell by $1.8 million – or 0.9 per cent – in October, when compared with the numbers seen in the month prior.

It took the industry’s seasonally adjusted figure for last month to $186m, which along with the tally in August this year is the equal second-lowest monthly amount recorded since October 2022.

October’s total also represented a drop of $20m, or 9.7 per cent, from the same month of 2023 when $206m 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 $39m, or 0.6 per cent, between September and October this year.

Hospitality helped drive the increase, climbing by $24m and two per cent, while spending on fuel tumbled $7m, or 1.4 per cent, over the same period.

In actual terms, cardholders made 169m transactions across all industries in October, with an average value of $55 per transaction. The total amount spent using cards was $9.3 billion.