Block auction day fears as house prices ‘go backwards’

If previous years are anything to go by, the fate of this year’s Block stars will rest on the whims of two eccentric multi-millionaires.

This year’s Block contestants face a nervous wait ahead of Saturday’s auction, as they hope to make a profit out of their finished properties despite what one of the show’s own property experts concedes is a tough market.

All five teams will no doubt be looking to two multi-millionaires who, between them, have purchased an astounding 15 Block properties in recent years.

Domain National Managing Editor Alice Stolz, who has appeared as a real estate expert on The Block across multiple seasons, said in a statement released by Nine today that recent data in Melbourne has seen “house prices not just stalling, but going backwards”.

“Higher interest rates are wearing down buyers and investors due to recent Victorian land tax changes, and sellers too are up against it with increased competition,” said Stoltz.

She said that while it’s a “tough time for the market,” great houses that are “priced correctly” can still achieve good results at auction.

All five of this season’s Block houses, spread across a former holiday park in the Phillip Island suburb of Cowes, will head to auction with the same price guide of $1.7 to $1.85 million. That’s considerably lower than the multimillion-dollar price guides of the past few seasons, but also well above the median house price in Cowes: $765,000.

Alice Stolz and Shelley Craft on The Block.

This year, The Block took on a former holiday park.

“This year’s property is like nothing we’ve seen before – a gated holiday park with outstanding facilities that’s unmatched in the market. There’s never been anything like it,” The Block’s executive producer Julian Cress said in today’s statement.

Stolz also talked them up as holiday houses that “could not be more low-maintenance if they tried,” and which all “resolve the question that many would-be-holiday-house-buyers wrestle with; too much maintenance and too expensive.”

News.com.au visited the site of the finished houses in August, touring all five massive homes, each pimped out with every mod con buyers could possibly want.

But the site also presents a potential impediment to buyers that will be familiar to those who watched The Block’s “Treechange” season two years ago: The houses are quite close together, and all face in to an internal court. It remains to be seen whether buyers seeking a luxury beach getaway out of the city would be seeking a little more privacy and solitude.

An aerial view of The Block’s five homes, plus the communal clubhouse.

Block auction day results have varied wildly in recent years, with success stories largely down to the whims of two very rich and rather eccentric men: Danny Wallis and Adrian Portelli.

Worth an estimated $120 million, I.T. businessman Wallis had dominated The Block auctions for several seasons, snapping up properties after testing auctioneers’ patience with his unusual bids.

Last year, though, Wallis went home empty-handed as fellow multi-millionaire Adrian Portelli bought three houses at a total cost of $12.4 million.

Danny Wallis (left) and Adrian Portelli (right) during last year’s auctions. Picture: Supplied/Channel 9

Portelli bought last year’s winners Steph and Gian’s house for a cool $5 million, well above their $3.35 million reserve.

With a profit of $1.65 million, Steph and Gian shattered all Block records, winning the season and scoring another $100,000 in prize money. Portelli had also made The Block’s 2022 winners, Omar and Oz, instant millionaires when his winning bid delivered them an auction day profit of more than $1.5 million.

But The Block auctions can be far more brutal for those contestants who haven’t won the affections of either Wallis or Portelli: One disappointed couple last year scored a comparatively small profit of $65,000 for their time on the show, while much-loved 2022 contestants Tom and Sarah-Jane walked away with just $20,000 from their house sale after months of hard work.

This season’s spate of walkouts begs the question of how exactly auction day will even work: Perth couple Jesse and Paige quit the show five weeks in, replaced by Sydney sisters Maddy and Charlotte, who took over their build for the rest of the season. Will Jesse and Paige get a look-in on any potential auction day profits?

And in dramatic scenes, controversial contestant Kylie appeared to quit The Block during Sunday’s episode, fleeing the site after getting disappointing feedback from the judges. She was eventually coaxed back for the night, but only after insisting she was done with the show, won’t attend auction day and doesn’t care if she doesn’t make a cent out of the experience.

Originally published as Block auction day fears as house prices ‘go backwards’