Big ticket item

A big ticket item is a retail good that has a high selling price. Some examples are real estate, big utilities (washing machines), cars, and other items. Big ticket items are usually also durable and provide utility to their buyers for an extended period of time.

Big ticket items tend to be interest-rate sensitive. Because they require large amounts of money to purchase, they are often bought using credit. Hence any changes in the discount-rate or other interest rates because of fluctuations in overall money supply affect the market-demand for big ticket items. This therefor means that central banks have the ability to influence the consumption of big-ticket items by reducing or increasing the bank rate.