Consumer Spending Trends
As the cost-of-living crisis escalates, South Africans are cutting back on food and groceries to be able to keep paying for medical aid, insurance and home security. Alongside this, many are finding their credit card and loan repayments are spiralling, meaning that often savings or retirement planning suffers.
These are some of the findings from our most recent survey. We surveyed almost 4 500 South African adults over 18 years old, with incomes ranging from under R2 500 a month to over R100 000.
The results have revealed how South Africans spend their take home pay, and what their living expenses actually cost them. This snapshot of how individuals allocate their financial resources provides a deeper understanding of a consumer’s everyday finances, and more particularly, how they manage their monthly expenditure.
Location
This year, we surveyed nearly 4500 people across all nine provinces.
Age
Average Age of Respondents: 35 years old. Over 50% of respondents were between 25 and 35 years old.
Income after Deductions
Income after tax and deductions came in at an average of R14711 per month. This includes those who stated no income or very low incomes of below R1000.
Income by Province
Respondents from Gauteng had the highest take home income at an average of R15944, while those in the Free State the lowest at R12578.
Income by Age
Peak take home earnings according to respondents occurred in the 56-64 age band, with an average take home earnings of more than R22k per month. This is nearly 3 times higher than their 18-24 age band counterparts.
Savings
Age Band Able to Save
Retirement Contribution
Worryingly, 59% of respondents are not saving towards retirement. This is lowest in the lower age bands.
Retirement Contribution by Age
In the 56-64 age band, less than 50% are saving towards retirement, contributing just under R3k per month vs the average for all retirement contributing respondents at R1206 per month on average.
Spend Distribution
11% of respondents are spending more than they earn (over 100% of income) with a further 8% spending between 90% and 100% of their income each month. The majority of these are in the lower income bands.
Credit Card & Loan Repayments to Income
Credit Card and Loan Repayments take up as much as 51% of income for those earning less than R2500 per month. This tapers off substantially down to 16% of take home income for those earning over R60k per month.
Rent / Bond Spend to Income
Housing spend (rent or bond repayment) makes up 24% of respondents monthly spend overall. The average housing spend per respondent who pays rent/bond is R3459. For those earning above R30k per month net, this rises to R8491 per month.
Amount Spent on Groceries by Income
Respondents earning less than R7500 per month spend less than R1000 per month on food and groceries which accounts for a large portion of their net income. This proportion of spend on groceries and food tapers off into the higher income bands, even though spend increases dramatically up to and average above R4600 for those earning more than R60k per month net.
Expenses That Have Increased The Most
An overwhelming 84% of respondents said that food and grocery spend, followed by electricity (54%) and fuel (33%) had increased most. This shows the impact of the high inflation environment has had on FMCG prices, and how interlinked electricity and fuel prices are on the production of food and groceries.
Consumer will cut down on the following to adjust budgets
Respondents will attempt to reduce their monthly costs by cutting back on Clothing (44% of respondents), Food and Groceries and Personal loans (both coming in at 32% and home entertainment (25%).
Download the full survey results
Download our full research report & press release for the Consumer Spending Survey 2024.
