Fresh data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show first-home buyer numbers continue to fade.
First-home buyers now account for 8.1 per cent of all home loans, which is the lowest proportion on record.
The number of housing loans approved across Australia for first-home buyers fell by 9.9 per cent in August.
Queensland was the only State not to record a fall in first-home buyers for the month of August.
Here in Victoria, first-home buyer numbers fell by 2.1 per cent in August to record a four-month low of 1656 in total.
On top of this, the average first-home buyer loan is now $291,100 in this State, which is the lowest it has been since the latter end of last year.
First-home buyers in Victoria now represent 8.2 per cent of all house sale loans, less than half the long-term average of 17.4 per cent.
As mentioned, Queensland recorded a rise in first-home buyer loans, albeit small, and is up 13.4 per cent for the year to August.
Western Australia has the highest proportion of first-home buyers in the country at 17.2 per cent of all home loans.
Despite the record low interest rates for an extended period, rising house prices and cuts to first-home buyer grants are putting the brakes on first-home buyer activity.
There has however, been signs of a recent general decline in buyer activity, and in particular investor activity, and combined with a slowing in house price growth may give first-home buyers some momentum to turn these figures around in the coming months.
