An online poll conducted by Loan Market showed that many Australians were not even aware of a federal program that provides assistance for first time home buyers.

The survey by the mortgage broker firm found that up to 46 percent of those polled were unaware that the federal government has established the $1.2 billion First Home Saver Accounts (FHSA) program in October 2008, specifically to aid young Australians to prepare for their first home deposit.

Loan Market chief operating officer Dean Rushton said that when the program was launched, 700,000 Australians were targeted for possible assistance within the first four years its existence.

However, short of 20,000 accounts have been opened so far, making the scheme mostly unsuccessful in terms of market penetration, according to Mr Rushton.

He added that the federal government even initiated more budget allocation to the program on its 2010 budget to allow for more flexibility but as the online poll have shown, many would-be homebuyers may have overlooked the initiative or were simply overwhelmed by the FHSA.

Fresh data from the Australia Bureau of Statistics pointed to a dwindling trend of only 15.5 percent of first home buyers in August, which is the lowest indication for the specific housing segment since July 2004.

When availed, the FHSA would enable first home buyers to claim up to 17 percent off their first $5500 individual contributions each year, though the scheme would require a lock of up to four years in to the program.

The Loan Market survey said that of the 400 respondents, 29 percent deemed the four-year mandatory lock as too long while 18 percent concluded that flexibility seemed absent from the program and with about seven percent giving up on the scheme for complexities encountered.