First home buyers are making up the biggest share of all people purchasing properties in Australia, with its record hitting a six-year high. 

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the share of first home buyers rose from 26.8 per cent to 27.1 per cent in February. 

“The share of first homebuyers in the market has been increasing,” Department of the Treasury’s Angelia Grant said. “It’s a fairly significant increase.” 

Northern Territory saw the highest increase in the number of owner-occupier home loans not including refinancing with 14.2 per cent. ACT followed with 7.4 per cent, Tasmania with 6.2 per cent and Queensland with 4.1 per cent. 

“The softer home prices are certainly bringing more first home buyers into the market,” Commsec chief economist Craig James said. 

“And lower home prices give cashed-up buyers more choice if loan size doesn’t change,” he added. 

Prime Minister Scoff Morrison also welcomed the figures through Twitter as he tweeted: “New economic data shows 110,000 first home buyers in the past year. Over 275,000 since the last election. First home buyers as a share of the market up 5 percentage points since the last election. #BuildingOurEconomy”

However, even though the numbers of first home buyers are rising, the nation’s house prices are expected to decline, continuing the 4.8 per cent fall in 2018.