More property virgins are getting into the Vancouver real-estate action.

A new report notes the rising number of successful first-time home buyers in Metro Vancouver.

The paper shows that completed home purchases by rookie property buyers have increased each year from 2018 to 2021.

The report was released by rennie, a major real-estate marketing company based in Vancouver.

It relied on figures compiled by the B.C. Ministry of Finance.

The rennie report indicated that 5,602 first-time home buyers or FTHBs purchased properties in Metro Vancouver in 2021.

Last year’s number represents 10 percent more than the 5,114 figure in 2020.

In addition, the 2021 tally of 5,602 was 19 percent higher than the average for 2018-2020.

The rennie report noted that there were 4,343 successful FTHBs in 2018, and 4,644 FTHBs in 2019.

Although the absolute numbers are rising, the share of home purchases by first-time buyers of Vancouver real estate relative to the entire market declined in 2021.

From a market share of 8.8 percent in 2020, the ratio fell to 6.8 percent in 2021.

In 2018, the share by FTHBs was 8.3 percent, and in 2019, it was 9.6 percent.

“And while 2020’s FTHB share was below the 9.6% of 2019, it was higher than 2018’s 8.3%,” the rennie report stated.

The document continued, “So it’s unambiguous that FTHB purchasing participation, as a share of all sales, has recently dropped, though—at the risk of sounding pedantic—it’s a stretch to say FTHB participation is falling based on these data, as the FTHB share was more or less stable in the years 2018-2020.”

Moreover, the “data are clear in painting a picture of rising FTHBs throughout the region” in the re-sale market for Metro Vancouver real estate.

The rennie report also noted that “activity in the pre-sale market more or less mimicked this pattern”.

“Survey data that we’ve collected on FTHB participation in an increasingly active pre-sale market over the past few years (encompassing thousands of pre-sale transactions) shows FTHB shares remaining relatively stable (31% in 2019, 36% in 2020, and 31% in 2021),” the report stated.