Are these Australia’s most stubborn neighbours. Picture: Channel 7
A stubborn yet savvy Aussie family that repeatedly said no to selling their much-loved family home to developers for mega bucks is having the last laugh.
A year ago the Zammit family from Quakers Hill in Sydney’s north west caught world wide attention when they declined to sell their 20,000 sqm parcel of land to developers who had purchased all the land around them.
The family had received offers of up to $50m to sell their home to complete the new development named The Ponds, but turned them down.
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You can always hold out for a better price. Picture: Channel 7
Instead the development went ahead all around them while their property remained intact.
However that hasn’t deterred some developers who continue to reach out to the family with offers reportedly to now be close to $60m, meaning the family have possibly earned another $10m or 20 per cent over the past year.
According to PropTrack, home prices in Quakers Hill have risen 8,5 per cent over the past 12 months, which would have earned the Zammits at least another $4.25m.
The family had actually considered selling as far back as 2015, when they would have received a fraction of that potential $60m.
Around a decade ago, the median home price in Quakers Hill hovered at around $700,000.
It is now $1.172m. A rise of more than two-thirds or 67 per cent.
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It’s good to have a bit of space between you and neighbours. Picture: Channel 7
Who doesn’t want a nice, long driveway? Picture: Channel 7
Could maybe improve its kerb appeal. Picture: Channel 7
And that is without their seemingly already faultless whip hand.
Last year, one of the property’s owners, Diane Zammit, 50, told news.com.au, said the neighbourhood used to be “farmland dotted with little red brick homes and cottages” where space was aplenty. “Every home was unique and there was so much space – but not any more. It’s just not the same,” she said.
The property boasts a lush green lawn in stark contrast to all the sites around it and also a huge 200 metre driveway.
But just metres away are rows and rows of carbon copy grey houses crammed into tight blocks as part of a major development.
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I’m off to the neighbours to get some sugar, see you tomorrow. Picture: Channel 7
The Zammit home is surrounded. Picture: Channel 7
How it used to look. Picture: Channel 7
The high-density neighbouring homes are built right up to the fence of the property, and neighbours reportedly don’t want the owners to sell as they like living in a cul-de-sac.
It’s estimated 50 houses could fit on the block of land if they followed the same style as other developer homes in the area.
A local real estate agent previously praised the Zammit family for staying put, despite the big payouts they have likely been offered.
“The fact that most people sold out years and years ago, these guys have held on. All credit to them,” Ray White Quakers Hill agent Taylor Bredin told 7News.
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“Depending on how far you push the development plan, you’d be able to push anywhere from 40 to 50 properties on something like this, and when subdivided, a 300 square metre block would get a million dollars.”
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