Consumer Trends, Quarter 2 (April to June) 2015

30 Sep 2015 02:59 PM

Main points

• In Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2015, household spending (adjusted for inflation) grew by 0.8% (£2.3 billion).
• The main contribution to growth can be seen in ‘Recreation and culture’, which includes ‘Games, toys and hobbies’. ‘Recreation and culture’ has increased by 3.2% compared with Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2015. The largest negative contribution to growth can be seen in ‘Alcoholic beverages’ and ‘Electricity, gas and other fuels’.
• Household spending in volume terms increased to £267.4 billion in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2007 before falling to £250.8 billion in Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2009. Following falls in 2010 and 2011, it has now increased to £276.6 billion, the highest volume spending since the start of the series. In each quarter since Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2014, volume spending has exceeded the previous high in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2007.
• Household spending when compared with the same quarter a year ago has been showing positive growth each quarter since Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2011. It was 3.1% higher in Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2015, when compared with Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2014.
• The current price value of household spending, which includes inflation, shows how much UK households spent. In Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2015, current price spending increased by 1.0% compared with Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2015.
• The household expenditure implied deflator increased by 0.1% in Quarter 2 (Apr to Jun) 2015 compared with the previous quarter (Jan to Mar) 2015.

Get all the tables for this publication in the data section of this publication.