THE birthrate is falling — fast — and it turns out mum and dad may be to blame.

With a growing number of young adults living at home with their parents into their 20s and even 30s to save money, they are delaying having babies until later in life, helping explain the biggest birth drop in a decade.

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that last year the national birthrate fell to 1.8 babies per woman, down from 1.88 the year before.

It is the lowest rate since 2004 and economists predict it will only fall further, with ABS regional director AJ Lanyon claiming the country is heading towards the lowest birthrate of 1.73 babies recorded in 2001.

Social researcher Mark McCrindle told The Saturday Telegraph the alarming drop was due to young couples delaying their fertility years to save for a family home — and with housing unaffordability at all-time highs, that was affecting the number of babies being born.

“That stay at home phenomenon has been growing,” he said. “It has been delaying the fertility years and the changes in birthrates have been significantly impacted.”

The ABS’ AJ Lanyon said a total of 299,700 births were registered in Australia in 2014, down from 308,100 in 2013.

Original Hi-5 cast member Tim Harding, who along with wife Natasha and daughter Arielle, 4, has returned from the UK and moved into his parent’s Bexley home, admitted it was sometimes hard to keep the romance alive.

“Just being at home is always easy — it doesn’t matter how many times you walk in that door it’s always going to feel like home,” he said.

“I hope my daughter feels the same when she’s older and wants to keep coming home.”

Originally published as Baby drought due to property prices