A Melbourne Institute study has found that financial conditions improved for the average Australian household during the past quarter, continuing to add to gains from earlier in the year.

The Melbourne Institute Household Financial Conditions Index, which shows the proportion of households who are saving relative to the proportion of households who are running into debt and/or drawing on their savings, grew for the fourth consecutive quarter.

“The Household Financial Conditions Index increased by 1.9 per cent in the December quarter,” Dr Michael Chua, a Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute, advised. “In the December survey, the proportion of respondents nominating ’saving for a rainy day’ as their prime motivation for saving, fell to 43.8 per cent compared to 48.1 per cent a year ago. Superannuation is the second most popular form of investment asset, with 66.8 per cent of households indicating that they hold this type of asset.

“This is lower than the 75.3 per cent result in September, and 69.6 per cent a year ago.”