Belts begin to tighten but holiday spend still on the up

  • Nationwide’s latest Spending Report tracked c190m transactions made by members in February
  • Overall spending down 9% vs January: Non-essential spending down 4% and essential spend down 12%
  • 15% increase in spending in February on utilities and other bills versus 2021 as cost of living rises
  • But spending on holidays and getaways flies in face of pressure as nation prepares to take a break in 2022
  • Travel spending also up 12% from January as people return to office after WFH guidance was lifted

Consumer spending grew by close to a fifth (19%) in February compared to the same month in 2021, despite the rising cost of living starting to show signs of impacting behaviour, according to Nationwide’s latest Spending Report.

Data shows people spent four per cent less on non-essentials in February compared to January – traditionally the quietest month of the year for spending. However, it was still significantly higher (+44%) than February 2020, mainly due to the lockdown restrictions at the start of last year.

Essential spend rose by 16 per cent in February compared with the year before. With energy costs continuing to rise, it’s no surprise that spending on utilities and bills rose by 15 per cent compared to February 2021, while the amount that the Society’s members spent on fuel and electric vehicle charging rose by 70 per cent due to the increasing cost of fuel, more switching to electric and the fact more are commuting to work once again – irrespective of how their vehicles are powered.

Holiday spend continues to rise

The positive mindset that started the year continued into February with people continuing to make travel plans for the coming year. Spending on airline travel (3%), cruises (19%) and holidays (14%) all saw another month-on-month increase – among just a clutch of categories to see growth in spend in February. Year-on-year, largely as a result of the pandemic, those categories saw a respective increase of 464 per cent (airline travel), 730 per cent (cruises) and 335 per cent (holidays).

The Spending Report is a full monthly breakdown of around 190 million debit and credit card and direct debit transactions.

Read Nationwide’s full press release here.