Meet Coogee's Norm Hill: The 92-year-old who is saying goodbye to his $13,000 first home

When most people buy their first home, they don’t imagine they’ll still be living in it by the time they’re 90. But 92-year-old war veteran and Coogee Surf Club legend Norm “Nobby” Hill isn’t most people.

After a stint in the air force, Norm had been renting in Randwick and in 1968 the opportunity to buy a home in Coogee came up.

One of his friends from the Surf Club had given up his job as a solicitor to go into construction, and asked Norm if he wanted to buy into his new apartment block in the east.

It was just finished, and rugby identity Kenny Catchpole had already taken an apartment.

“When I came up to have a look I saw Ken up here on the top floor … I had a look at this unit and I said well, this one will do me, No. 5,” Norm said.

The two-bedroom unit at 5/22-24 Bream Street cost him $13,000.

But the price was a stretch for Norm and his wife, who scraped together a $7000 War Service loan and $5000 in savings but were still $1000 short. His application to the bank was turned down.

Fortunately, a friend of his wife had “come into money” and gave them a small loan, which they paid back within a year.

Now, almost 50 years later, his choice in home is about to pay dividends.

He’s selling up to go and live nearer to his son and grandchildren in Coffs Harbour, and the apartment is likely to sell for about $1 million at auction.

While he is “quite sad to be leaving”, the property market’s growth has been “amazing,” he said.

“It’s ridiculous prices. But good prices if you’re selling. Coogee’s a very popular place, apparently. People like it so much, they pay big money.”

Sales agent Belinda Clemesha from Ray White Bondi Junction/Coogee said there was interest from “quite a few young couples”.

Similar homes have sold in the $900,000-$1 million range – prices that were unthinkable even eight years ago.

In 2009, a two-bedroom home in the same block sold for $650,000.

“It’s been pretty much on the boom for the last few years,” Ms Clemesha said. Domain Group data shows Coogee’s median dwelling price has jumped more than 50 per cent since 2012.

And there’s a new wave of luxury development in town, such as Pinnacle in Arden Street where two-bedroom apartments have sold for $1,795,000 as cashed-up young professionals move into the market.

PK Property Group buyer’s agent Peter Kelaher, who grew up in the area, said Coogee had become like Manly – attracting a mix of tourists and young professionals.

“It has changed from a sleepy coastal suburb to somewhere inherently attractive from a young point of view,” Mr Kelaher said.

Coogee’s 30-minute bus trip from the CBD had been increasingly favoured by young inner-city professionals keen for the coastal lifestyle and investors hungry for anything along the coast, Mr Kelaher said. 

But while it has become a real estate hotspot, for Norm it will always be the place where he met his wife, Eunice. They met at a dance at the Coogee Beach Surf Club.

“We had 184 boys in the surf club from the services. And you know how many’s left? One. That’s me.”