Consumer Spending Today | Growth in Consumer Spending for Housing and Selected Household Expenditures | Indexed Growth 2009 to 2017 Q1
October 20,
2017 by Jane Chero in General 
This is the third factoid in a series of four factoids detailing the growth of consumer spending since the recession. Although Healthcare spending still leads the way, Durable Goods, including Furniture and Home Furnishings products, have steadily increased their share of post-recession consumer dollars since 2009. This is despite the fact that last year for the first time Americans spent more money on health care than the total amount spent on living in and taking care of their homes -- $2.95 trillion versus $2.91 trillion.
Since the end of the 2009 Recession, household insurance has surged as the fasted growing housing expense – up 67.8 percent but tapering off over last year. Both furniture and home Furnishings have maintained a steady upward trajectory – averaging 3.5 percent and 3.7 growth each year, but still lag slightly behind overall consumer spending growth of 3.8 percent. Televisions and appliances have been outpaced by other household spending. Household utilities have stabilized with little increase.
As Americans are staying put longer, household maintenance spending has grown 29.2 percent over the last five years. Last year, rents and mortgages saw a high growth of 4.7 percent as supply tightened in many areas. Consumer spending slowed during the first quarter of this year in all household spending categories, except televisions/video and audio.
Source: Personal Consumption Expenditures , Bureau of Labor Statistics
*Seasonally Adjusted at Annual Rates (SAAR)