Ms Ntomanoglou, a Customs officer, and Mr Catanzariti, a plumber, are engaged to be married and they have slated a wedding for 2010.

They will move into their first home together, a three-bedroom house in Richardson, after settling later this month.

The couple's home costs $350,000 and they have saved up about $35,000. The savvy buyers purchased at a time of falling house prices the vendor was happy to accept less than the $358,950 asking price.

They were also eligible for a first-home buyers' grant from the Government, $14,000, which made decent inroads into the cost of their home.

Ms Ntomanoglou lives with her grandparents in Wanniassa and Mr Catanzariti has been a renter in Phillip for 11 years, paying $280 a week.

''I'm sick of paying rent,'' he said. ''I've been cooped up in this little box far too long.''

They were delighted with the news of the Reserve Bank of Australia's latest rate cut.

The bank cut its key interest rate by a larger than expected 75 basis points to 5.25per cent after a board meeting yesterday.

The hottest tip on Melbourne Cup day was a rate cut of half a percentage point.

Based on data from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia's home loan calculator, Ms Ntomanoglou estimates that, assuming banks pass on the full rate cut, she will save about $113 a fortnight.

Other calculations suggest a home owner with an average $300,000 mortgage who repays monthly will see $150 knocked off their monthly repayments, based on the same assumptions.

Money the couple save will be put into their savings. Some of it might go towards buying good-quality furniture, and maybe some other goods. ''A Playstation would come in handy,'' Mr Catanzariti said.

The advice they would like to give to other first-home buyers is, ''really do your research''.