What Australians are buying for their homes in lockdown

Stay-at-home orders may mean avoiding stores for many Australians, but online shopping for certain home-related items has increased.

Australian homeowners are splurging on big-ticket items as they power through renovations and spruce up their spaces in lockdown.

After months of working from home, some are making minor home improvements that they would not have done absent a pandemic.

Data by “buy now, pay later” company Humm shows online spending on home-related items has increased by 207 per cent and transactions by 228 per cent.

Many Australian homeowners are splurging on big-ticket items for their home renovations.

These include outdoor furniture (28%), tools and mowers (26%), hot water and gas installation (26%) and blinds, shutters and curtains (23%).

Home gym (54%) and computer equipment (55%) purchases have also increased as Australians balance fitness and work from home.

“People are more comfortable making big purchases online as they look for ways to continue to enjoy their lifestyle,” Humm CEO Rebecca James said.

“Those who aren’t going on holidays are spending their money on a new lounge or tackling a long list of jobs.”

Humm chief executive Rebecca James.

The company offers to help cover the cost of a $30,000 transaction with interest-free repayment options from six months to 60 months.

“We enable consumers to pay things off over a long period of time which makes those more expensive purchases more affordable,” Ms James said.

Online trade hiring platform hipages recently saw a surge in requests for specific categories of trades such as carpentry, tiling, fencing and the instalment of gas heaters and air conditioning.

“The increase in the number of transactions through our platform has shown that the demand for tradies is still very strong,” hipages chief customer officer Stuart Tucker said.