Make-up entrepreneur’s rosy solution to Gold Coast rent crisis
Huxley School of Makeup owner Michael Huxley is selling a unique property at Southport. Picture: Glenn Campbell
This distinctive pink building is a Gold Coast entrepreneur’s response to the rent crisis.
Huxley School of Makeup founder Michael Huxley originally purchased the Southport property as premises for his educational facility, but instead set up rooms to rent for students struggling to find affordable accommodation.
The property at 2 Deauville Dr is marketed for auction on August 25 by Kollosche Commercial agents, Adam Grbcic and Taylor Jones.
Mr Huxley purchased the property last year. Picture: Glenn Campbell
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Mr Grbcic said rooming houses were a solution to Queensland’s shrinking rental pool as investment properties were increasingly sold to owner-occupiers.
Factors exacerbating the housing shortage were population growth, slowing development due to high building costs, and the high proportion of unit stock given over to short-term holiday letting, he said.
The ground level interior fitout was designed as a shared beauty salon space. Picture: Glenn Campbell
An owner could rent out each chair to beauty practitioners.
“Rising rental prices can make it challenging for many people to find affordable housing, potentially leading to an increase in homelessness or people being forced to move to cheaper areas further away from their workplaces and amenities,” Mr Grbcic said.
“One solution is converting particular pockets into rooming houses so that single person households and couples have the ability to share costs with other people.
“This allows them to share the costs of all utilities such as power, water, internet and the cost of furniture. It is also a solution for the increase of international and interstate students coming to the Gold Coast,” he said.
It is on a corner block in a high-exposure central location.
Mr Huxley purchased the high-exposure property on a 655 sqm corner lot for $1.75m in January 2022 and undertook a full renovation and commercial fit-out.
The first floor comprises a four-bedroom boarding house, while downstairs is a self-contained residential unit, as well as a newly refurbished shared beauty salon space. A large carport storage space is separately tenanted.
There’s a self-contained unit downstairs.
The property offers a total gross income of $160,680 when fully let.
The property offers a total gross income of $160,680 when fully let.
“I separated the residential side of the building into clear living spaces and as soon as we put the bedrooms up for rent they went immediately,” Mr Huxley said.
“Through my experience with the school and knowing how challenging it is for young people these days, I thought this creates an opportunity for them to get really lovely accommodation in a central location, and fully furnished for an affordable rate.”
It could suit a range of professional uses.
Mr Huxley, whose school has operated from Burleigh Heads since 2011, said around 30 applications were received per room, with particular interest from Griffith University and international students.
“Because the upstairs rooms and the self-contained unit rented so quickly, it inspired the concept for the beauty salon as a shared space that could suit creatives or beauty professionals who could each utilise the space in their own way, whether for a hairdresser, a beautician, a makeup artist or a nail tech,” he said.
