Households are particularly concerned about the outlook for their own finances and the general economy over the next year.

This comes despite the Government's Families package, which was initiated in July. This has presumably been outweighed by other concerns, such as rising petrol prices and cooling housing markets.

These results present a challenge to our expectation that the economy will regain some momentum in the short term on the back of Government spending.

Households' inclination to save remains low.