No sign of a recovery in first-home buyer activity

The fall in first-home buyer participation in the housing finance market is turning into a long-term trend, with a growing number of Australians reporting that they have no plans to buy a home.

First-home buyers made up 11.6 per cent of housing finance commitment in November, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This is down from 12.3 per cent in November 2013, and from a high of around 20 per cent early in 2012.

Mortgage aggregator AFG reported that first-home buyers accounted for 6.9 per cent of its broker's sales in December. A year earlier the level was 10.2 per cent.

A survey by the comparison website finder.com.au in November found that 32 per cent of the 1,000 people surveyed would prefer to continue renting rather than commit to buying a house. A year earlier only ten per cent said they would prefer to rent rather than buy a house.

There was also an increase in the number of young adults staying in the family home, with 14 per cent saying they were living with their parents, compared with ten per cent a year earlier. The biggest concern that prospective homebuyers reported to finder.com.au was the challenge of saving a deposit for a home loan.

According to the Bankwest First Time Buyer Deposit Report, published in December, Australian first-time buyers will take 4.1 years to save a 20 per cent deposit for a house, up from 3.9 years in 2013.

This reflects the increase in the median house price, which has gone up from $438,000 in 2013 to $469,000 last year.

There are a couple of other factors at play: wage growth has lagged house price growth; and low interest rates mean that interest on accumulated savings has fallen.

FHBs in New South Wales take the longest to save a deposit - 4.8 years, compared with 4.4 years in Victoria, 4.1 years in the Northern Territory, 3.3 years in South Australia and 2.7 years in Tasmania.

ME Bank's latest Savings Intentions survey found that when it comes to buying a house, for many the focus has shifted to investment property. Forty-one per cent said they expected to achieve their goal of buying an investment property in 2015, compared with 18 per cent who said they expected to achieve their goal of buying a home.