Regional Australians seeking help to buy their first home will get access to a new federal government scheme from October 1.
The Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee was due to start in January next year.
However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said access to the first 10,000 places to be made available each financial year would start three months earlier.
The scheme will provide a government guarantee of up to 15 per cent for eligible first-home buyers, so people with a five per cent deposit can avoid paying mortgage insurance.
Applicants must be Australian citizens, buy outside a capital city and demonstrate they have been living in the region in which they are buying the property (or adjacent regional area) for at least 12 months.
Property price caps and income caps will be consistent with the first-home guarantee administered by the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation.
"This is part of our ambitious housing agenda to support more people to purchase their own home, as well as investing in social and affordable housing," Mr Albanese said.
Housing Minister Julie Collins said Australians living in regional areas had faced some of the largest drops in housing affordability, making it increasingly hard to save a sufficient deposit.
"The (guarantee) will help aspiring first-home buyers living in regional Australia realise home ownership sooner by overcoming the deposit hurdle," she said.
