Virgin Money's half-yearly Spenders Report found the boom in the number of spenders in previous surveys went sharply into reverse in the first half of 2005.
Almost 600,000 Australians switched from being spenders to savers between December 2004 and June 2005.
This included 203,000 Big Spenders - people who had the money and the inclination to buy goods and services - who shut their wallets and purses during this period.
Big Spenders are defined as those people with a high disposable income who would rather splurge than save.
Virgin Money director Carole Donaghy said the survey revealed a potentially nasty end to Australians' recent love affair with spending.
"The rise of the Big Spender had been almost unstoppable over the past three years," she said.
"But in the most recent survey we saw the biggest quarterly swing away from Big Spenders.
"And with fuel prices climbing even higher since the end of the survey period, it could be Thrifty Types - those who have money and want to save it - who are on the rise."
Donaghy said the shift away from spending occurred despite good increases in average household incomes for Big Spenders and Thrifty Types.
"This highlights the level of concern about personal finances and confirms that it is the expense side of the household budget, not the income side, that is causing increasing numbers of Australians to worry about their finances," she said.
The report is based on data collected by Nielsen Media Research from more than 12,000 Australians in the first half of the year.
It categorizes Australians into four spending types - Big Spenders, Thrifty Types, Wannabe Spenders and Bohemians.
Source: AAP NewsWire