Falling homes for sale listings and rising prices are putting properties further out of the reach for first-home buyers in Australia, especially on the east coast.

The total number of capital cities properties listed for sale fell 4.1% to 83,035 in the year to January 15, according to property market analytics firm CoreLogic.

The number of new properties listed for sale also fell by 12% to 10,581 in the same period and it is believed that the lack of properties helped contribute to rising prices in 2016, (up 10.5% compared to January last year).

Rising prices and falling listings are obviously not great news for first homebuyers, but especially for singles, according to new research by ME Bank. The lender says the proportion of home loan applications by singles have fallen from 44% to 35% in the last two years.

ME Bank says its average mortgage application for singles has jumped 9% to A$355,000 (£220,000) in the same period, however, that is still well below the average Australian capital city house price of A$606,394 (£376,000).