The sale ended one of the longest sales in Sydney's history, with Higgins not only adding $40 million to his fortune, but also retaining ownership of the original home site and boat shed, all in a subdivided neighbourhood.
A well-informed source said the sale was of the remaining 8,400 square metre plot, purchased by a buyer who plans to build two luxury homes designed by architect Walter Barda, each with a tennis court and located on approximately 30 metres of private beach frontage, with at least one home having a 10-car garage.
Claudio Marcolongo of LJ Hooker Avalon has been following the property since it was first offered to buyers in May 2010, but declined to comment on the details of the sale other than to confirm that he had sold the property.
The buyer remains a mystery, but they have filed an ownership interest in a beneficial trust under the auspices of Pimas Gale, a luxury construction specialist headed by Jeremy Hu.
The buyers will be the third owners of the historic estate of Carlyle Bay.
It was bought by gynaecologist Sir Herbert Schlink in 1930 as his hermitage to found the King George V Memorial Hospital in Camperdown and passed to his wife Meg Mulvey on his death in 1962.
After Mulvey's death, it was listed in 2001 for $12 million.
Two years later, more than 80 years after Schlink first built a timber lodge on the site, Higgins purchased the 1.1 hectare plot in 2003 for $15 million, and later added an additional 1020 square metre plot for $3.2 million.
The same year Higgins purchased the property, he and his brother Ron made their debut on the BRW Rich List with an estimated value of $100 million thanks to their mortgage brokerage business Mortgage Choice.
During Malala's 13-year sales campaign, it has been known as the largest privately held property on the Northern Beaches waterfront.
In 2017, the asking price was discounted to $30 million, with later reports indicating an asking price of $26 million, but when it didn't sell, it was subdivided into 11 lots, with the DA approving the construction of a home designed by architect Mark Hercum on each parcel.
Higgins kept two of the plots and the rest hoped to reach between $37 million and $40 million in total sales. Fortunately for Higgins, the subdivision also did not sell, paving the way for the mystery buyer to take the land in one fell swoop.
Higgins also proved to be a patient seller of his Richmond property, the Sydney Polo Club. It was initially listed in 2019 at an asking price of $75 million, but floods and a pandemic hampered sales activity and the 115-hectare property is now being offered at $50 million.
Settlement will be revealed if the sale of Malala surpasses the $40 million northern beach house price record said to have been set by former garbo Ian Malouf when he bought at Snapperman Beach in Palm Beach last year.
