Australian's financial positions have declined slightly, according to data released today.

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 or drawing on their savings, dropped from 33.7 in June to 32.7 per cent in September.

Results of the September survey also revealed the number of people selecting "saving for a rainy day" as their driving force for saving decreased to 49.1 per cent this month from 51.5 per cent in June.

Edda Claus, Research Fellow at the Melbourne Institute, said there are two worrying developments looming.

"The share of respondents that fully own their home fell to 37.5 per cent, the lowest level since December 2005 while the share of debt free households fell to 36.2 per cent, the lowest level since the start of the Report in March 2001."

The proportion of respondents who nominated holiday or travel as their motivation for saving edged up to 57.3 per cent from 55.8 per cent in June, the survey showed.

Meanwhile, the share of household which saved "a lot" slid from 11.5 per cent in June to 8.7 per cent in September.

"Overall, it appears that households' financial positions have deteriorated slightly in September compared to their positions in June but are better off than this time last year," the report revealed.