Changes to first-home buyer grant schemes in New South Wales and Queensland appear to have led to the withdrawal of that group from the real estate market.The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported on Monday that first-home buyers made up 15.8 per cent of the housing finance market in November - the smallest proportion of housing finance commitments for over a year. For most of last year first-home buyers made up 18 or 19 per cent of the market.Mortgage aggregator AFG reported yesterday that first-home buyers accounted for only 12.5 per cent of the loans its brokers wrote in December. AFG's general manager of sales and operations, Mark Hewitt, said first-home buyer activity fell away sharply in NSW, where it was 4.2 per cent of loans written in December, and in Queensland, where it was 4.5 per cent.In NSW, the A$7000 First Home Owner Grant for established properties ended on September 30 last year.From October 1, the $7000 grant was replaced by the $15,000 First Home Owner Grant (New Homes) Scheme. Under the new scheme, first home buyers who purchase or build a newly built home will be eligible for a $15,000 grant. The grant will reduce to $10,000 on January 1, 2014.Under the new scheme, the grant will only be available where total value of the property does not exceed $650,000 (the cap was $850,000 under the old scheme).In Queensland, the Government introduced a First Home Owner Construction Grant in September. A grant of $15,000 is available to first home buyers who buy a new home or off the plan.The value of the property must not exceed $750,000.The $7000 First Home Owner Grant, which applies to established houses as well as new houses, ended in October.