The squeeze on household finances eased to its weakest level in more than six years this month but people are becoming more downbeat about their longer-term prospects, a report has found.

The overall reading in the Markit Household Finance Index lifted to 45.8 in May, marking a new record high for the survey which has been monitoring households' feelings towards their finances since February 2009.

Readings are calculated from the percentages of people reporting an improvement, no change or a decline. Overall readings above 50 indicate a change for the better, and ones below this point signal a deterioration, meaning the latest overall reading is still a negative one.

Despite the generally improving sentiment, the study found that for the first time since September last year, households had become pessimistic about their financial wellbeing over the next 12 months.

The reading for the 12-month outlook fell to 49.1 in May, down from 50.6 last month. People working in the utilities, energy and transport sectors were found to be the most downbeat about their prospects over the coming year.

The report also found that people working in finance and business services were the most upbeat about their financial wellbeing, followed by those working in IT and telecoms.

In general, household income from employment continued to increase in May, marking a five-month period of salary growth.

Philip Leake, an economist at Markit, said: "The strain on UK household finances remained mild in the context of post-recession data during May, continuing the trend observed so far in 2015.

"Labour market improvements and low inflation were again factors boosting financial wellbeing.

"In contrast, households were downbeat regarding the financial outlook in May. Previously, optimism had been signalled for seven consecutive months - the longest sequence in the series history."

Around 1,500 people aged between 18 and 64 from across Britain were surveyed for the research.