An increasing number of first home buyers are moving to the outskirts of big cities in order to secure affordable land and house packages, KPMG demographer Bernard Salt has claimed.

A day after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Glenn Stevens spoke of the importance for economic recovery of increasing the nation’s housing stock, Mr Salt said there was strong demand for cheap housing on the city fringes.

“Migration figures out this week show Australia’s population is still growing at record rates, and these people must live somewhere.

“They go to the most affordable areas, and the fastest growing area at the moment is Melbourne’s western front – places like Werribee, where you can still pick up a house and land package for less than $260,000,” Mr Salt said.