Clothes retailers are paying the price for our unseasonably warm autum…

Australians might have basked through an unseasonably warm autumn, but not everyone is enjoying the unusually summery weather.

New retail data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that Australians spent less in April than the month before.

That was due in part to the warm weather, which stopped shoppers from reaching for new winter purchases.

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"Clothing retailers told us that the warmer-than-usual weather for an April month saw people holding off on buying clothing items, especially new winter season stock," ABS head of business statistics Robert Ewing said.

Australia sweated through its hottest March on record, and April temperatures were a degree above the long-term average.

While overall spending dropped 0.1 per cent in April – despite the Easter and Anzac Day long weekends that would have been expected to boost consumption – clothing and footwear was down a far more substantial 2.5 per cent for the month.

There was a notable bounce back in Queensland, though, as households spent more following the destruction caused by Cyclone Alfred.

"Queensland retailers recovered from last month's temporary business closures and fewer customers," Ewing said.

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"In April, we saw higher spending in the industries most impacted by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

"More people dined out and made recovery purchases on household items like furniture and electrical goods."

The ABS also released new data on the number of housing approvals, which have fallen to their lowest level since last August, and remain nowhere near the level required to meet the federal government's 2029 targets.

"Even on a three-month annualised basis, approvals are running at around 187,000 per annum (which is an 18 per cent increase from the 2023 trough, but 26 per cent below the peak in 2021)," AMP economist My Bui said.

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"The key to getting housing approvals (as well as housing completions) up is to have more units in the mix, rather than detached houses.

"At the peak, units accounted for about half of all approvals, but in April only 35 per cent of building approvals were units.

"With Australia's chronic undersupply issue, we should be building roughly 240,000 dwelling units per year – similar to the number targeted in the national housing accord... it is now much harder to see the target being met."

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