How to Use FHBG, FHSS and Family Help to Buy Near Dover Heights

You can use the First Home Guarantee (FHBG), First Home Super Saver (FHSS) scheme and structured family help together to buy near Dover Heights by: 1) targeting suburbs and prices under the FHBG cap, 2) timing your FHSS release before you sign a contract, and 3) capping any family guarantee so parents’ total LVR stays comfortable.

In high‑priced Woollahra LGA, that usually means widening your search to nearby suburbs and being clinical about buffers.

Combining government schemes and family support can bring a first home near Dover Heights into reach.

Step 1: Be realistic about “near Dover Heights” prices

Dover Heights houses are often well beyond first‑home ranges.

But FHBG, FHSS and family help can work for:

• Smaller apartments in nearby suburbs (e.g. Rose Bay, Bondi, Bellevue Hill, Randwick)
• Older walk‑ups within a short drive of Dover Heights

As a rough starting point (illustrative only):

• 1‑bed Eastern Suburbs apartment: $850k–$1.05m
• 2‑bed Eastern Suburbs apartment: $1m–$1.3m+

Use a similar process to the hard‑numbers walkthrough in /insights/can-you-afford-dover-heights-home-numbers-walkthrough to sanity‑check your target price this week.

Quick repayment sense check

Example (illustrative only):

• Purchase: $1.05m
• Loan: $997,500 (5% deposit, FHBG covering LMI, P&I 30 years)
• Rate: 6.2% p.a. (not a quote)

Approx repayment: $6,100–$6,300 per month.

For a household with $17,000 net per month, that’s ~36% of take‑home – already at the upper end of a safe range for professionals.

Step 2: Use FHBG to shrink the deposit hurdle

FHBG lets eligible first‑home buyers purchase with as little as 5% deposit without paying Lenders Mortgage Insurance.

Key points for the Eastern Suburbs:

• You still need genuine savings – typically 5% of the purchase price plus costs.
• Price cap matters – make sure your target suburbs fall under the FHBG cap for Sydney (check NHFIC for current limits).
• Owner‑occupier only – you must live in the property for at least the minimum period.

For a $1.05m purchase under FHBG:

• 5% deposit: $52,500
• Purchase costs (duty + legals + inspections): allow ~5% if no concessions

Total cash requirement can easily hit ~$100k.

That’s where FHSS and family help come in.

Combining FHBG and FHSS is powerful but timing‑sensitive; contract date, FHSS release and settlement all interact with tax and borrowing structure. A joined‑up lending + tax view really helps (see the Mascot worked examples in /insights/using-fhbg-fhss-state-concessions-mascot).