14 Aug 2013

Eating out fuels increase in consumer spending

7:13 pm on 14 August 2013

Consumer spending has risen strongly, led by spending in cafes and restaurants.

The seasonally adjusted value of retail sales rose 0.9% to more than $18 billion in the three months ended June from the March quarter.

ASB Bank chief economist Nick Tuffley says a buoyant housing market is underpinning retail spending.

He says most categories registered an increase in volume over the quarter.

"In particular what we're seeing is that those housing related categories so that's a lot of the furniture, and homeware and electronics for example are still registering some very healthy volumes growth."