Houston residents expect to spend more money this holiday season

Houston residents are ready to shell out more cash this holiday season.

Driving the news: Shoppers in the metro area expect to spend $1,577 this holiday season, up 14% since last year and surpassing local pre-pandemic levels, according to Deloitte's annual holiday retail survey.

The intrigue: The majority of Houston shoppers say they're financially worse off than last year, yet they still plan to spend more this holiday season because of inflated prices.

• To manage, Houstonians are predicted to purchase an average of only nine gifts, compared to 17 in 2021.

Zoom out: Nationally, shoppers are predicted to spend about $1,400 on gifts this holiday season, which is on par with last year.

Of note: Houstonians still prefer online shopping for the holiday season.

• 34% of local shoppers plan to finish buying gifts by the end of this month and over half plan to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
• But 22% of shoppers said they finished by Halloween. Did y'all already start and finish your holiday shopping?!