Get to know David Higgins director, residential of Colliers International
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Sep 14, 2018
Get to know David Higgins director, residential of Colliers International
David Higgins has over 28 years experience in the real estate industry, with gross sales of over $1.3 billion across 3,000 products.
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Image supplied by Colliers InternationalDavid Higgins director, residential of Colliers International
David Higgins spoke to WILLIAMS MEDIA about selling all the apartments in the three heritage listed woolstores in Teneriffe, off the plan back in the early 2000s.
How did you start out in real estate? Have you always worked in the industry, or did you do something else previously?
My younger brother Sam, who had worked as research manager at Ray White, suggested we should start our own real estate office.
We were doing up houses on the weekend outside of our day jobs, so we left our day jobs and started a brand new PRD office in Morningside/Bulimba/Balmoral and East Brisbane.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Working with great people on interesting properties, and negotiating outcomes that work for both parties.
Can you tell us about an interesting property you’ve sold?
I sold all the apartments in the three heritage listed woolstores, formerly known as the Goldsborough Mort and Co 1922, the Elder Smith and Co Woolstore 1926, and the Australian Estates No 1. & Mortage Co. Woolstore at Teneriffe in Brisbane.
These are now named Datoka, Ansonia and Saratoga Apartments, and have seen values soar by over 300 per cent since I sold them off the plan between 2001 and 2003.
These projects have revolutionised the Teneriffe area, and helped it to achieve the expensive suburb title in Brisbane.
David Higgins sold all the apartments in the Saratoga Apartments at 50 Macquarie Street, Teneriffe
What is the biggest accomplishment of your career so far?
Having a good reputation still, after almost 30 years in working around residential projects and working with clients that I met when I first started back in 1989.
Related reading: Whole floor, beachfront living in residential-only Gold Coast building
What’s your advice to young people starting out in real estate?
Always put the needs and outcomes of your clients before your own.
Get into the property industry, and stay in it for the long term.
If you nurture your clients you will build long term contacts and relationships that will serve you, well into the future.
If you could change one thing about the real estate industry, what would it be?
As an industry it is such a big driver in the economy, and I would like to see it being promoted more as an option as a professional career at schools and universities.
It provides such an extraordinary array of careers for young professionals within the real estate Industry, that often are an afterthought rather than first choice as a career.
What’s your outlook for the property market on the Gold Coast for the next 12-18 months?
The Gold Coast represents outstanding value across most markets.
Saratoga Apartments, formerly known as Australian Estates No 1
There has been a scarcity of apartments designed with owner occupiers in mind in recent years, simply because the market was more geared towards investors but that is now starting to change.
We are starting to see more sophisticated projects on the drawing board, like the proposed Cerulean Apartments where the developer has identified a shortfall in the market for larger, upmarket three and four bedroom apartments with two side by side car parks, storage, larger entertainment size balconies and other features that embrace the beach lifestyle.
Related reading: Predicted regional growth areas
Mahala Apartments at Mermaid Beach, and the Beach Houses at Kirra are also projects with apartments and homes that are designed to appeal to the end users.
I believe it is all about addressing the pent up demand in the market for apartments and villas that provide all the features of a private home and benefits of the apartment lifestyle - low maintenance living with space and storage.
I feel that while the Gold Coast is still appealing to interstate buyers looking to leverage the relative affordability of beachside property, I anticipate that many new owner occupiers in the central coast precinct would be locals moving from the surrounding suburbs.
If I looked at Mermaid Beach-Broadbeach, it has been a 'magnet' for population growth, with census statistics showing 58.4 per cent of the region's 12,927 residents had a different address five years ago.
The Gold Coast property market is in great shape, and I believe the fundamentals are in place to allow for a strong 4-5 years of growth, inbound domestic demand and stability.
Where do you live now, and what would be your dream home if you could live anywhere in the world?
We live between Brisbane and Main Beach, due mainly to my work commitments.
I enjoy the variety of working in both cities, however with our busy, adult kids living in Brisbane, I need to balance the time I spend away from the family.
Dream home would be to spend my summers in Queenstown, New Zealand, and my winters in South East Queensland.
Related reading:
Owner occupancy on the rise as apartment design changes
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