Joe Staton, of GfK, said: “There’s clear anxiety in these findings as many consumers worry about balancing the household books at the end of the month without going into further debt.”

This data was gathered in the first two weeks of February, before Russia invaded Ukraine. It is now likely to get much worse. 

Andrew Wishart, of Capital Economics consultants, said: “Persistent inflation and the grim news flow could cause sentiment to sour further over the coming weeks.”

But mortgage rates could stay lower for longer

Higher inflation for longer will increase pressure on the Bank of England to raise interest rates. Capital Economics has forecast that the Bank Rate will rise to 2pc by 2023. This will increase mortgage costs significantly and cool house price growth.

But there will be a strange side effect from the war. Paradoxically, though the conflict will bring higher inflation, it will also likely delay interest rate rises. 

Karl Thompson, of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a consultancy, said: “The Bank of England may not want to compound any medium-term threats to the economy from the fall-out of the crisis.”

CEBR previously expected a rise in the Bank Rate to 0.75pc in March. It now expects this to be pushed back. The economic climate could also influence the Bank’s stance longer-term.