It truly is a buyers market out there with house prices falling in Sydney. Competitive house prices and a steady interest rate have probably spurred this new spending with official statistics release by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) yesterday on Friday revealed that the proportion of loans going to first home buyers was 18.7 per cent in December, up from 18.3 per cent in November and the highest level since May 2002.

There was also a 2.1 per cent increase in the number of loans for the construction of dwellings. This is perhaps attributed to the fact that there was been a lack of supply in the rental market which pushed up rents a there wasn't enough new homes or apartments.

The statistics release revealed that total housing finance by value rose 2.8 per cent to $18.867 billion in December. Interest levels are currently at "normal levels" and technically, house prices are still in the consolidation period after the long bull market.

A part of the bigger picture of the real estate market is that the number of property repossessions being dealt with by the Supreme Court has more than doubled since 2003. The opportunity lies with investors that these repossessed homes are selling well below their reserve prices. A two-bedroom repossessed apartment in Bondi Junction sold at auction last weekend for $515,000, well below its original reserve price of $565,000. Supreme Court figures show the number of claims for possession of properties has ballooned from 2361 in 2003 to 4873 last year.