Australian households have spent more on necessities such as health care and vehicle repairs as they grapple with cost-of-living pressures, new data shows.

Spending rose by 0.8 per cent in July, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, after falling in June for the first time in months.

ABS head of business statistics Robert Ewing said household spending had "bounced back".

"The July rise was led by higher spending on services such as transport and health services. In contrast, goods spending was relatively subdued, rising 0.1 per cent in July.

"In July, discretionary spending rose by about 0.9 per cent, which was due to increased spending on travel, vehicle purchases and catering services.

"While non-discretionary spending increased by 1.4 per cent, which was primarily driven by spending on vehicle repairs, health services and maintenance and miscellaneous expenditures."

Mr Ewing said that has followed the trend over the last year.

"Non-discretionary spending grew faster than discretionary spending, as households continue to face cost-of-living pressures," he said.

"In the 12 months to July, non-discretionary spending rose by 4.3 per cent, with discretionary spending rising by 1.3 per cent."

The government agency said household spending increased throughout the year in five out of the nine spending categories.

The biggest increases were in miscellaneous goods and services, health and food.

Some experts have cautioned that while it was positive that household spending had increased, it was as a result of inflation.

University of New South Wales associate professor Mark Humphery-Jenner said it was important to look at the spending trend.

"Consumer spending, while increasing a bit — things have gotten a lot more expensive throughout that period," he said.

"Consumers are trying to rein in this spending, and that's in part based on things such as high interest rates, which are crunching into disposable income … in some areas, that increased household spending arises because of necessary spending."

Why are some states doing better than others?

Most states and territories have seen household spending rise when compared to the same time last year.

Western Australia recorded the largest increase, while New South Wales had the biggest decrease.

Dr Humphery-Jenner said the spending differences in states, such as Western Australia and New South Wales, reflected the makeup of their economies.

He said the increase in spending in Western Australia was partly due to its commodities-based economy.

"That would give [Western Australia] more spending power," he said.

"So a lot of it is going to come down to the local cost-of-living pressures as well, and that can account for the regional differences."

Will higher monthly spending lead to a rate cut?

Despite interest rate reductions in Canada, the United Kingdom and New Zealand recently, Dr Humphery-Jenner said it was unlikely the Reserve Bank of Australia would be cutting rates in the near future.

"We're seeing a lot of stickiness in inflation, and a lot of it appears to be due to supply constraints that are driving up areas of prices and that somewhat exacerbates things and potentially increases in demand," he said.

"So that would be areas such as housing, where there's not an easy quick solution to that because all of the proposed solutions that come out have some distinct downsides."

Dr Humphery-Jenner pointed to Australia's weakest annual growth in years as one of the driving factors.

"GDP is still increasing — albeit at an anaemic rate — inflation is still too high and productivity is still decreasing," he said.

"Say [trim-mean] inflation was sitting around 3.5 per cent but we're showing progress, and say productivity was increasing, then the RBA might feel more inclined to cut rates.

"But when productivity is decreasing — the RBA has specifically alluded to that being an issue — that makes it very difficult for the RBA to cut rates."