While interest rate rises were hitting mortgage repayments,it had the opposite effect on the time it takes to save for a property as it bolstered prospective homeowners’ bank accounts,Powell said.

The time it would take an average couple to save for a house in Melbourne compared to a last April has fallen by 11 months,from 6 years and 6 months to 5 years and 7 months.

The time to save for an entry-level unit fell by 9 months over the same time.

The biggest falls in savings time were in the more expensive parts of the city. In the statistical region of Stonnington East,time to save was down 35 months since last year,while cheaper areas to buy property,like Melton-Bacchus Marsh,dropped by just 5 months.

Though buyers can save up quicker,new research from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute,released on Tuesday,showed 40 per cent of homeowner hopefuls studied,aged 25 to 34,expect to call on family for financial help.

Research author and University of Sydney senior lecturer in urbanism Dr Laurence Troy said that included gifts towards a deposit,or allowing property-owning hopefuls to live at home rent-free,for the participants in Sydney and Perth.

He said Sydney first-home buyers were facing the toughest conditions in the country,but other capital cities like Melbourne would soon follow.

“Sydney is now where the rest of the cities are headed – they’re not there now – but they will be in the coming years,” he said.

Though first home buyers can get help from government incentives,they werenot significantly helping young first time buyers to get into the market,Troy said.

“The incentives and grants they make available don’t really help – it can bring some decisions forward,but it doesn’t make it easier to get into the market,” he said.

CBA head of Australian economics Gareth Aird said the number of first home buyers was retreating,as the Reserve Bank hiked interest rates.

“It’s quite an ugly scene for first home buyers,” Aird said. “Even though prices have fallen,the reduction in borrowing capacity has been greater.

“It’s actually become a lot worse for first home buyers because the rise in serviceability makes it harder to get into the market in the first place.

“The only thing that’s gotten better is that the deposit required is a little bit less because house prices are down,but they still have more money going out each month on rent when they’re trying to save for a deposit.”

Foster Ramsay Finance’s Chris Foster-Ramsay said first home buyers looking for a loan were relying more on their family for cash gifts,as offering to be a guarantor on a loan was sometimes not enough to get them approved.

He said what constituted a first home was changing,as buyers were priced out of houses in more expensive parts of the city.

“The closer you go to the city,the more likely you are to buy an apartment,” Foster Ramsay said.

“But even houses in the outer ring suburbs like those between the west and Geelong,they’ve changed as well,because house and land construction prices are going up.”