How this Aussie couple became property millionaires by staying put

Sydney and Doris Clues bought their new 622 sqm three-bedroom 1940’s red brick veneer house at 3 Rowen Street, Burwood, Melboure for £7,875 – or an equivalent of $15,750 in 2015 dollars – in 1963.

They moved in on the same day that John F Kennedy was assassinated.

According to Domain Group, on 14^th November last year, 52 years later, the property sold at auction for a whopping $1.455 million – more than 90 times more than the Clues family originally paid.

Also read: 10 Melbourne suburbs set to take off in 2016

In 1988, Sydney died, leaving the house to his wife who tended to it for the next 27 years until passing away in 2015.

Over those 52 years the family has seen significant changes in the area.

For one, that section of Burwood was incorporated into Glen Iris – a boon for property prices and real estate agents. 

Over the past decade the suburb has seen a changing of the guard, son-in-law and estate executor Jeff Smith said.

“I’ve seen the transformation here as all the older families move out and this younger breed move in and it’s been a change for the better,” he said.

“It’s become a very desirable area for young, up-and-coming couples with reasonably good jobs.

Agent Xen Blaher, of Jellis Craig, said the properties attracted a lot of interest from buyers looking to renovate or even demolish the home.

Unsurprisingly, Glen Iris was named as one of 28 Australian – three of which were in Victoria – property hotspots for 2015.

Also read: 28 Australian property hotspots for 2015

Data from propertyvalue.com.au shows the median prices for houses in the Glen Iris suburb increased by 21.52 per cent in 2015, far higher than the national average of 4.30 per cent.