For years, the Zammit family defied developers begging them to sell. Now they’re surrounded by new neighbours – but the eye-watering price tag on their five green acres of paradise proves they’re the clever ones

Developers are now lining up with huge cash offers to tempt the owners of a spectacular home to move and let the bulldozers in after their five-acre estate was surrounded by a high-density new-build estate.

The Zammit family’s sprawling mansion on Hambledon Road, in The Ponds, in Sydney’s northwest, is at the center of a large development, with row upon row of dozens of identical houses adjacent to the property.

Experts are putting the price tag on the property at a breathtaking $60 million in Australia’s booming property market, but the rebellious family is refusing to sell.

The Windsor Castle-style driveway is 200 meters long, while the house also has a huge barn to the rear and a three-car garage. It also offers views of the scenic Blue Mountains and is approximately a 40-minute drive from Sydney’s CBD.

The Zammits have already turned down offers from developers reportedly as high as $40 million – and every day there are new requests from real estate agents asking the family to call them in their relentless search for the property.

When Daily Mail Australia visited the house again this week, business cards from potential agents and buyers lined the front door of the house, with handwritten appeals for the family to get in touch.

Among them was local estate agency Cutcliffe, who confirmed they had yet to speak to the family but were happy to discuss a possible sale with them.

Aerial photographs show how the area around the house – once the green fields on the edge of the city – has now been swallowed up by homes.

Developers simply built around it, and dozens of families with barely enough space to kick a football now share a border fence with the vast tract of land.

But neighbors who lived next door to the Zammits said they had no problem with the family refusing to sell.

“It doesn’t really bother us,” said one father.

“It’s their land, they can do whatever they want with it.”

Another woman who lived across the street had a similar opinion.

“If I owned that property, I would do the same thing,” the mother said.

“I’m with them!”

The intensely private family has shed all interest in their country and mother Diane Zammit declined to speak to Daily Mail Australia at her home this week.

Residents of the close-knit community said the family was quiet and mostly kept to themselves, rarely enjoying their vast estate other than keeping the acres of lawn trimmed.

Despite the enormous appreciation now placed on the property, it briefly appeared on the market less than a decade ago at a bargain basement price.

Neighboring plots of land sold for up to $239/sq m in 2012, which would have valued the Zammits’ 20,000 sq m estate at around $4.78 million a decade ago.

But for seven days in November 2015, it was suddenly put up for sale with a list price of just $858,000 to $945,000, real estate records on RP Data show.

In February 2016, the house was offered for sale again at the same price list, but was taken off the market after just a week.

It is no longer mentioned.

The Zammites have previously admitted that the country is unrecognizable from the moment they moved in 16 years ago.

“The farmland used to be dotted with small houses and red-brick cottages,” Ms Zammit told Daily Mail Australia on the only occasion the family spoke, two years ago.

‘Each home was unique and there was so much space, but not anymore. It’s just not the same.’

Other homes in the adjacent development are selling for about $1.5 million.

The Zammit’s property is believed to have more than five bedrooms and features a large garage for the family’s cars – including a classic Ford Falcon XR6 – in addition to a makeshift basketball court.

A small enclosure for their two dogs was also seen, but despite the vast amount of land, the property doesn’t have luxuries like a swimming pool or a tennis court, or even a single tree or shrub.

Mowing the gigantic but neatly manicured lawn takes about two and a half hours, with the couple’s young son regularly taking on the task, neighbors say.

The house is surrounded by approximately 750 meters of fencing to contain the burgeoning and ongoing construction work around them.

There’s no clear indication why the family has rejected all offers to sell so far, but every day they hold out the price tag rises.

“The land is probably worth about $60 million if it were developed now,” said a local real estate analyst, who estimated the block could fit 40 new homes.

“Even if someone paid them $40 million for it, the developer would make at least $20 million.

“And given the way house prices in Sydney continue to rise, even a $60 million price tag would leave the developer with a substantial profit by the time the houses were eventually approved, built and sold.

“They must really love that house to ignore that kind of money.”