First-home buyers feeling priced out A majority of first-home buyers are feeling priced out of the suburb they want to live in. Many young people want to live in a cosmopolitan area near where they work but that big city aspiration is looking increasingly elusive as house prices soar. Nationally, 54 per cent of aspiring home hunters believe they won't be able to buy exactly where they want to, with almost all blaming unaffordable prices. But in NSW, where Sydney prices are growing at the fastest pace, that figure jumps to 58 per cent. Home loan broker Mortgage Choice surveyed more than 1,000 people planning to buy their first home within the next two years. Its online survey was conducted in August as the proportion of new loans going to first-home buyers fell to a record low of less than 12 per cent. An earlier survey had found that an increasing number of first-home buyers were purchasing an investment property to rent out, while they continue to rent in a suburb of their choice. "Purchasing an investment property first allows first time buyers to purchase where they can afford and still live where they want to," Mortgage Choice spokeswoman Jessica Darnbrough said. In September, investors grabbed more than half of all new loans approved for the first time since the Australian Bureau of Statistics began compiling data in 1991. On Tuesday, the ABS released more data showing capital city house prices climbed by nine per cent in the year to September, with Sydney prices 14.6 per cent higher. Sydney had Australia's highest median house price of $680,000 in October, RP Data figures show. Suburb is out of price range (88.8pct) No desirable properties (6.1pct) No properties meet requirements (2.7pct) Other (2.4pct) Source: Mortgage Choice online survey of 1,114 people in late August.