The move by private sector lenders into the shared equity mortgage market has been mirrored by similar activity in the government sector. The Victorian, South Australian and Western Australian Governments have all launched equity loan schemes in recent months and the New South Wales Government has announced a concessional program that will start in May.The aim of all these schemes is to assist low-income earners and public housing clients to make a home purchase. Commercial equity lenders do not see the public schemes competing with their offerings. "They are dealing with people we would not lend money to," said Chris Joye, the managing director of the property fund manager Rismark International.Rismark is the product manufacturer and funder of a loan called the Equity Finance Mortgage that Adelaide Bank launched this week. Other lenders that have foreshadowed equity mortgage loans include St George Bank, working with Australand, and Greenway Capital, a start-up specialist lender.Joye said the offerings from the two sectors would be complementary because they would be targeting different markets. He said there were opportunities for groups such as Rismark to help governments develop their offerings."We have had talks with some of them," said Joye.The Western Australian Department of Housing and Works has run a program called Goodstart for some years, offering a low deposit shared equity for public housing tenants. In February it launched a program called First Start for first home buyers on low incomes.The scheme is available for families with incomes under $60,000 and singles with incomes under $35,000. The Department of Housing and Works will buy up to 40 per cent of the property and set up a low-deposit loan for the purchase of the remaining share. The scheme has been funded to assist 1000 home buyers a year for the next three years.In Victoria the Government's urban development agency, VicUrban, announced in February that it had entered a joint venture with a builder, Burbank, to launch a pilot scheme called Ownhome. Families selected on the basis of a means test will enter a ballot for the opportunity to buy one of 100 homes to be built on VicUrban estates at 75 per cent of the purchase price.VicUrban will take a second mortgage and hold the other 25 per cent of the property. The home buyer will have the option of buying the government agency out at a later stage.In January the South Australian Government launched a scheme called HomeStart Breakthrough Loan to be offered by the state government lender HomeStart Finance. The program will provide assistance to about 500 families a year.Eligible home buyers will be able to borrow up to 35 per cent more than they otherwise would, with no additional repayments. They will share a portion of the home's capital appreciation with HomeStart. The rest of the money required to buy the home will be borrowed through a standard HomeStart mortgage.Where the Breakthrough loan is at the 35 per cent limit the share of any capital gain payable to HomeStart would be 49