Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott says homeowners can keep spending on a renovation boom that is keeping tills busy at its Bunnings hardware stores because low unemployment and record household savings will cushion the impact of higher interest rates.

Mr Scott said prices were rising for raw materials such as cotton, timber and steel but vowed the $57.6 billion retail-to-chemicals conglomerate would keep prices as low as possible to entice value-conscious shoppers back to its lockdown-battered Kmart and Target discount chains.