Australia's economy grew 0.5 per cent in the December quarter as exports, property-buying and a pick-up in consumer spending helped make up for a continuing slump in mining investment and flat public sector demand.

Although at the lower end of expectations, the quarter-on-quarter growth was better than the September quarter's to 0.4 per cent.

Household consumption contributed 0.5 percentage points to the nation's growth. Credit:Alice Archer

From a year earlier, growth slowed to 2.5 per cent, from 2.7 per cent.

The Australian dollar, which was buoyed by Tuesday's decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to keep interest rates on hold, rose moderately on the data release, trading at around US78.30¢ at midday.