Potential Tasmanian first home buyers are being urged to move quickly to take advantage of federal assistance.
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The federal government's First Home Loan Deposit Scheme can make the difference in eligible first home buyers getting a loan or not, and cut their insurance costs.
The scheme will have 7000 new places available from February 1, according to the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation.
They would be in addition to 3000 potential first home buyers being registered under the scheme by banks since January 1.
It is expected they will be the only places available this financial year, with another 10,000 to become available from July.
The places are split between the major banks and smaller lenders, with 27 lenders taking part.
Tasmanian-based MyState Bank is one of those.
It said it was currently taking home loan applications for pre-approval under the scheme.
The bank said they would be submitted from February 1, when 5000 loan allocations would become available for non-major lenders
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MyState Bank general manager, banking, Tony MacRae said places in the scheme were allocated on a "first-in" basis, so potential first home buyers in Tasmania might risk missing out if they did not act quickly.
"The strong demand we have seen so far suggests that allocations are likely to dry up quickly as thousands of property hopefuls seize the opportunity to enter the housing market earlier," Mr MacRae said.
First home buyers generally need deposits of at least 20 per cent of property value.
MyState said the scheme provided guarantees of up to 15 per cent of property value for eligible first home buyers.
That meant they could buy with as little as a 5 per cent deposit without needing lenders mortgage insurance.
MyState said that could potentially save them thousands of dollars in insurance costs.
It said it would offer a 0.05 per cent discount on its lowest advertised basic variable interest rate for home loans with a loan to valuation ration of up to 95 per cent and waive the establishment fee for eligible customers.
It said there were competitive fixed interest rate options for scheme-approved customers.
In Tasmania, property thresholds under the scheme are $400,000 in Hobart and $300,000 in other areas.
The scheme is aimed at people on low and middle incomes.
