A 34-year-old with 180 properties under his belt worth $130million has revealed the suburbs he’s investing in – and they’re in a city that traditional investors are fleeing.

Eddie Dilley, frozen Sydneyhas been acquiring properties since he was 18, and attributes his success to spotting suburbs and towns just before prices soar.

Now, he has shared with the Daily Mail the suburbs he believes will quadruple in value over the next few years. They all have one thing in common: they’re in Melbourne.

‘The Melbourne market is undervalued at the moment. What I’ve learnt through looking at statistics, data and being obsessed with property is it goes through growth cycles, but this happens in different markets at different times,’ Eddie explained.

‘This means you might have one state that’s growing very rapidly for three or four years – the “boom” period – while other states that are plateauing.

‘This is happening at the moment and Melbourne is at the low end of its property cycle.’

Looking at the growth cycle from 1980 to 2025, the graph rises in distinct steps – a pattern that could help buyers pinpoint the right time to enter the market.

While high interest rates, new taxes and tighter rental regulations have made some buyers wary of Victoria, serial investor Eddie hasn’t been put off.

In fact, his strategy is simple: Go against the grain, do what others aren’t and buy properties that have decreased in value.

It’s a textbook example of contrarian value investing – a strategy famously used by Warren Buffett, where investors buy into undervalued markets others are avoiding.

‘I’m betting against what most people believe. I’ve done this time and time again – and it’s worked,’ Eddie added.

‘Price growth doesn’t discriminate based on location. It’s a ripple effect and when one market increases, the others gradually follow.’

Eddie said he’s been buying units, townhouses and villas in St Kilda, Craigieburn, Elsternwick, Brunswick, Prahran, Box Hill, Murrumbeena and Footscray.

‘St Kilda in Melbourne is the equivalent of Bondi in Sydney, except it’s much cheaper. Last September, I bought a modern one-bedroom apartment for $273,000. In Bondi, that would cost upwards of $1.4million,’ Eddie said.

‘I get excited when I see properties that are significantly undervalued. In a few years, it will be worth $450,000. Since I bought, the prices in the area have already grown to $320,000.’

Most of the suburbs have something in common – they’re close to the city, neighbouring blue-chip areas, and prices have decreased in recent years.

However, suburbs such as Footscray are less desirable due to crime, homelessness, and claims of sinking land. Still, Eddie has bought there.

He firmly believes that buying into these suburbs – particularly units, villas and townhouses – will deliver strong returns over the next five years.

‘Sometimes growth happens over a decade, then it happens quickly in three or four years,’ he said.

While most people view falling property values as a red flag, Eddie considers them a green flag.

For example, in 2020, he bought a property in Doolandella, Queensland, for $236,000. In 2010, that same home had sold for $335,000.

Today, five years on, the address is worth an estimated $639,000.

‘The previous owner would’ve bought it at the top of the property cycle while I bought it at the bottom. Now, Queensland is at the top of the cycle again,’ Eddie explained.

Five years ago, Eddie was also investing in Adelaide and Brisbane at a time when fewer people were buying in those markets. Since then, prices have soared.

‘Everyone used to bag the hell out of me for buying in Logan and Ipswich in Queenslanddue to concerns about crime and Housing Commission. I was buying units for $140,000 – now prices have quadrupled,’ he said.

‘Adelaide is too expensive now, so I’ve stopped buying there – same with Perth. They’re both at the top of the property cycle.’

To ensure he can service the loans, most of the properties are positively geared – meaning the rent covers the cost of the mortgage.

HOW EDDIE ANALYSES PROPERTIES BEFORE BUYING

Before buying, Eddie runs a detailed analysis – checking comparable sales, exploring off-market opportunities and benchmarking the property against similar markets.

‘I’ll only ever buy a property if I can see that it’s already undervalued because it’s an instant gain. I’ll also get a mortgage broker to run a bank valuation on the property,’ he said.

One of the biggest mistakes Eddie sees other investors make is believing that houses outperform units and apartments.

‘Units tend to do better than houses in the long-term,’ he claimed.

Looking at the data on Realestate.com.au, this is true in certain areas, but not others.

For example, in Mt Druitt, western Sydney, house prices have increased by 3.6 per cent over the last 12 months, while unit prices have grown by 4.7 per cent.

In Logan, Queensland, house prices have increased by 13.1 per cent over the last 12 months, while unit prices have grown by 15.7 per cent.

Despite rising property prices, Eddie claims it’s ‘never been easier’ to get into the property market in Australia.

However, he said the government’s new five per cent deposit scheme for first home buyers is ‘just adding fuel to the fire’ and will likely only drive prices up further.

If a young investor had $600,000 to spend today, Eddie says he’d put it into a two- or three-bedroom unit in St Kilda – confident the affordable buy could climb to $900,000 within a few years.

Looking ahead, Eddie also shared his predictions for 2026.

‘I think Melbourne and Sydney are going to increase by 10 per cent. We’re going to see double-digit growth, especially in Melbourne,’ he said.

‘If you can buy, get in now – it’s the perfect time. One property can be a stepping stone to building long-term wealth. But it’s not meant to be easy. If it was, everyone would be doing it.’