A millennial who rose from Centrelink welfare payments to a $90m property portfolio is about to do something he believes necessary but ‘bloody stupid’.
Eddie Dilleen is very aware of how far he has come – from living in council housing with his single parent mum on Centrelink welfare payments in his teens to $90m worth of properties – a 100-plus set of houses, units and offices across the country.
Now, just 16 months after buying a $6.1m luxury house in Strathfield, he has put it back up for sale to embark on his biggest journey of discovery yet – his first new build – which is also his wife’s passion project that could end up costing $12m when complete.
Eddie Dilleen inside the $6.1m house which is now for sale. Picture: Tim Hunter.
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“This house (that’s being listed for sale) is really beautiful and nice,” he said. “It’s a big step up from our previous home. But my wife has always envisioned building one day. I’ve always been against it. So we’re building a property that will probably be a mega mansion.”
The land alone costs almost the same as the house they bought last year.
“It’s in the same suburb in the inner west. We bought the land for around $6m. It’s bloody stupid. It’s an emotional decision. I’ve invested for so long and so hard I feel like I can mess around now.”
In his mind, that kind of money can buy another 12 homes to add to the portfolio, but the next chapter for the Dilleens is all about the family dream.
Eddie and Francesca Dilleen bought a $6.1m house 16 months ago, which is now back on the market as they pursue a luxury new build project.
A property the couple bought in Joondalup, Western Australia, because it has multiple units inside it.
“We’re in the process with an architect,” Mr Dilleen said. “It’s going to be three storeys, with a basement, six or seven bedrooms, six or seven baths, a big garage, an office but I don’t like working from home any more, a pool, spa, the usual stuff.”
While he may seem somewhat reluctant, he has had some news from real estate agents in recent days which has lifted his mood. “A house down the road from where we’ve building sold for $16.6m offmarket, and another sold for $12.1m over the weekend,” he said, happily. “Before that the last biggest sale in Strathfield was $12.1m. The agents called me to say good for you because I paid $6m for the land and to build that house will be $5m or $6m.”
Eddie Dilleen bought this Greater Brisbane property via his SMSF in 2018 and sold it for 68 per cent more last year.
This complex in Archerfield with three spacious one bed units and a two bed unit was returning $1160 per week or $60,320 annually when the Dilleens bought it for $951,000.
He’s also changed his personal rule on not selling off property to help fund the next step.
“The investor properties that we bought have created a lot of equity, so we sold six or seven – just those that have doubled in value.”
Among those were five across Greater Brisbane, some of which he’d bought in their self managed super fund.
“I’ve got to sell them to actually realise the equity and get use out of the equity. I can reinvest it and re-leverage into a bigger asset.”
No asset has been as big as the another he has just signed off on – buying the Aland building, sponsors of NRL team Parramatta Eels since 2018 and one of Sydney’s leading property developers.
HE has just signed off on his biggest purchase, buying the HQ of leading developers Aland who are major sponsors of the Parramatta Eels. Picture. Jeremy Ng/Getty Images.
“I just bought an office next door. That’s the Aland building, a developer and famous sponsor of Parramatta. They put their headquarters up for sale and I bought that which was $10.2m.”
The deal has a long settlement period of 11 months, he said, “so next year we’re moving in”.
He admits “it’s bloody crazy at the moment”.
“I used to buy a lot of affordable homes, that’s how the numbers in my portfolio went up so quick. The average property I would buy would be $500k, so that $10.2m could be 20 properties.”
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Eddie Dilleen has built his 100-strong portfolio on affordable homes including entire buildings filled with units like this one in Western Australia.
Mr Dilleen said he was becoming more comfortable with the idea of adapting his strategy as his $90m portfolio matures. His miraculous journey may well see him among Australia’s greatest property investors.
“I’m happy to adopt that title officially,” he laughs, knowing clearly what a hard climb his journey has been.
“I’ve gone from living in housing commission poverty as broke as it gets to having over $90m worth of property by age 32. No one has come as far as I have in Australia from below the poverty line where I started.”
“There may be a couple investors who have a larger portfolio but most got hand outs when starting off or came from money, I started from below the bottom, living in housing commission and from a poor family who lived off Centrelink welfare.”
His Dilleen Property operation today helps others break the poverty cycle and he has also mapped his journey in a free book sent to anyone who asks for it.
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