Rag trader Ling Zijian sells Balmoral Beach house for $17.8 million

The Balmoral Beach house owned by rag trader Ling Zijian sold on Wednesday on the quiet for $17.8 million.

The five-bedroom residence set on The Esplanade fronting the beachfront promenade has made a handsome return for Ling, of more than three times the $5.3 million she paid for it in 2003 when it was sold by then-internet entrepreneur Wayne Passlow.

Passlow sold at a loss a year after his Open Telecommunications software company went into voluntary administration in the wake of the dotcom bust.

Passlow had bought it in 2000 for $5.9 million from the late yachtie Warren Johns and his widow Joan.

Ling, 61, is the head of fast fashion label Ladakh, a Surry Hills distributor of women’s, children’s and infant clothing founded in 1997.

Her new five-bedroom residence on about 800 square metres opposite Rocky Point Island at Balmoral comes with a swimming pool. 

The result is the third-highest sale this year in Mosman, topped by the $22 million in February of the Ruby Street mansion of prominent dentist Daniel Adamo and his wife, former recruitment boss Katie to Mengyao Ling, the business partner Olympian Michael Klim.

In February hedge fund manager Rob Luciano and his wife Samantha paid $18 million for the Hopetoun Avenue residence of Siobhan Downe.

Despite the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, buyer interest has not waned, but the supply of high-end housing to meet demand has since dropped sharply.

Another house on The Esplanade sold in May for $14.6 million from prestige car dealer Ian Pagent and his wife Maryanne to FDC Construction director Blake Cottle.