Young Auckland newlyweds Jason and Jemima Steel are about to become one of the first couples to buy a house under the government's new shared equity pilot scheme, reports Emma Page in the Sunday Star Times (28/09/2008).

Launched in July, the scheme is designed to help modest-income earners into their first home.

It targets areas where housing prices are highest - Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch and Queenstown.

Participants must have a 5% deposit but the government provides up to 30% of the home's value as an interest-free loan which is repaid when the house sells.

Around 150 people have applied for the scheme but just five, including the Steels, have got to the point of buying a house.

The contract for the sale and purchase of their $299,000 property went unconditional last week, just days before their wedding. Both Jason, 20, and Jemima, 19, are stoked with the two-bedroom, 1950s' weatherboard home in the West Auckland suburb of Te Atatu.

With a combined salary of about $60,000, they say buying a home would have been out of their reach if the government hadn't stepped in with an $84,000 contribution.

Housing Minister Maryan Street says the unprecedented 80% rise in house prices since 2002 had locked many New Zealanders out of the market. Government schemes such as shared equity were designed to address this. She hopes more people take it up.

The pilot scheme will run for two years and new applicants can still apply.

See also our previous news item: Shared equity to help home buyers