PHOTO: Ian Malouf with his daughter Ellie
The Dial-a-Dump founder had long stood out among his Rich List contemporaries for preferring to rent rather than buy, but that has changed dramatically.
Garbo Ian Malouf had long stood out among his Rich List contemporaries for preferring to rent rather than buy his own home. But that has changed dramatically in recent weeks with a hat-trick of trophy-home purchases to the tune of more than $110 million, most recently in the $30 million-plus range for a beachfront house in Double Bay.
Malouf’s latest purchase comes just weeks after he bought developer John Boyd’s $60 million penthouse in the ANZ Tower and a Palm Beach getaway for about $20 million.
Sources say the Dial-a-Dump founder and his wife, Larissa, bought one of the eight beachfront houses on prized Castra Place, among the homes owned by the likes of Janine Lowy, former wife of Westfield heir Peter Lowy, and corporate heavy-hitter Vickki McFadden.
There is more than one house being quietly offered to buyers on the cul-de-sac, but only one with more than $30 million hopes known to Title Deeds, that of Leigh and Nick Pongrass, of Pongrass Properties, which has been offered around by Pillinger’s Brad Pillinger.
The Pongrass home was previously owned by billionaires Bill and Imelda Roche, who had purchased it in early 1997 from fellow Rich Lister Andrew Roberts, who bought it in 1994 for $2.75 million from rag trader Philip Smouha, former husband of fashion designer Lisa Ho.
Malouf was unavailable to respond to a request for comment, but his high-profile corporate successes indicate his recent acquisitions are probably funded by the sale of Dial-a-Dump in 2018 for $578 million to Bingo Industries, of which he is now one of the largest shareholders.
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