The 1.4 per cent rise revealed in seasonally adjusted ABS figures on Tuesday was the territory's biggest monthly increase since February and raised hopes for a profitable Christmas for small businesses.

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food operators had a 9 per cent increase in turnover, up to $63.1 million, equalled only in March this year.

Council of Small Business Australia executive director Peter Strong said the end of the election race on September 7 had encouraged spending, with coming job cuts not hitting the retail figures.

''People were without a doubt unsure of the future and when you're unsure you don't spend - [but the ACT figure] is a surprise, you'd think everyone's scared of losing their job,'' Mr Strong said.

''We've been talking about this for a long while - maybe people are sick and tired of waiting around for the worst to happen.''

The ACT growth followed a strong 1.1 per cent rise in September, behind only NSW and Victorian growth rates. Retail turnover had increased in only three of the previous six months.

The national figures showed a fourth straight month of turnover growth, with a 0.5 per cent seasonally adjusted rise in October.

Cafes, restaurants and takeaway food providers led the national rise.

Turnover in eateries and from takeaways was up 1.2 per cent for the month, while spending in department stores dropped by 0.3 per cent.

In the ACT department store spending was down by 1.3 per cent to $29.5 million for the month but had risen by a similar rate in September.

Mr Strong said the October department stores' slide was fascinating.

''People are going out more - that's a good thing, and the thing I like about that is it's lots of little businesses,'' he said.

''That's got to give heart to small business and to suppliers and to be listened to [by] the big end of town - people are sick of the same old, same old.''

The positive spending news came a day after figures showed the value of Canberra homes dropped by 3.5 per cent across the last quarter.