Billionaire Adrian Portelli has paid $15.03 million to buy all five houses at auction on this year’s reality renovation TV show The Block.
Portelli capped the season with a knockout bid of $3.5 million for House 1 on Phillip Island, renovated by sisters Maddy Harry, 24, and Charlotte Harry, 22, making them the season’s winners with a $1.55 million profit.
The youngest-ever Block contestants also take home the $100,000 winner’s cheque, for a total prize of $1.65 million. The Block airs on Nine, owner of this masthead.
The sisters’ home at 1/113-119 Justice Road, Cowes had a price guide of $1.7 million to $1.85 million, and a reserve price of $1.95 million. Each house had the same guide and reserve, except House 5 whose reserve was lower.
The houses largely fielded strong interest, defying Melbourne’s broader weak property market. Contestants on the program will take home substantial prizes of at least $650,000 this year, in contrast to the past two years when some homes were passed in or sold for gains in the tens of thousands.
The homes were among 1180 auctions scheduled in Melbourne on Saturday.
Overall winners Maddy (left) and Charlotte celebrate their win at The Block auction this weekend, selling their house for $3.5 million.Credit: Nine
Melbourne recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate this week of 61.2 per cent by Saturday evening from 1372 listed auctions throughout the week and 972 reported results.
This year’s season of The Block was set in a former holiday resort in Cowes on Phillip Island, south-east of Melbourne, where the contestants remade villas into luxurious homes. They also jointly renovated an on-site clubhouse into a stylish communal area with saunas and ice baths, al fresco dining, a trampoline, games room and a private cinema that judge Darren Palmer described as the best room in two decades of the show.
The shared amenity convinced Portelli to come to the auctions again despite spending millions over the past two years. The Young Rich Lister is worth $1.295 billion after founding LMCT+, an online subscription-based club offering shopping discounts and giveaways of cars and houses.
He even engaged buyer’s agent Mark Errichiello, of Master Advocates, who bought House 5 to avoid revealing during proceedings that he was winning each auction, but he thought this would be his final year of The Block.
“So I bought these houses, a little bit for a premium, but I get all the amenities that come with it”: Winning bidder Adrian Portelli (left) with another bidder at The Block auction.Credit: Nine
“I wanted the royal flush,” Portelli said. “I really wanted the amenities and I don’t like sharing.
“I think that’s what actually sold me, so when I came down I actually wasn’t too keen on bidding this year, however when I did see the clubhouse and all the amenities involved I was like, ‘well, essentially if you buy all the houses, you own all the amenities as well’. So I bought these houses, a little bit for a premium, but I get all the amenities that come with it.”
He thought the winning sisters deserved their gains.
“I saw the girls having a hard time and getting bullied, and I don’t stand for that shit,” he said.
Portelli was not deterred by the Victorian government’s increased land tax on secondary homes.
“It’s a bit up there, hopefully something gets done about it,” he said.
Winners Maddy and Charlotte Harry said it made sense that one person would own the whole block to control the communal area.
The sisters’ auction began with a quick $2.5 million bid, then a lightning-fast counter of $3.5 million from Portelli.
“It’s wild,” Charlotte said.
Maddy added: “I was a bit of a stunned mullet.”
Their agent, Kristina Walters, of OBrien Real Estate, said the house had good interest during the campaign.
“We’re in a really good, positive market at the moment. It’s of course been a challenging couple of years before that when interest rates went up, but now we’re back on track,” Walters said.
The second-place winners were married couple Courtney McInnes and Grant Freeman, who sold House 2 for $3.3 million and will take home $1.35 million.
Bidding began at $1,999,999.96 and rose quickly as The Block regular and IT entrepreneur Danny Wallis competed with Portelli and cafe chain owner Jacob Najjar.
The modern Mediterranean style home, or “Moditerranean”, had been a consistent hit with the show’s judges.
“I’m in so much shock,” Courtney said.
“I’ll be forever indebted to him [Portelli],” Grant added.
Grant said the couple tried to design the home with a long-term owner in mind.
Courtney and Grant, with host Scott Cam, react to the winning bid on their home. Credit: Nine
“Some of the advice we got about the market was that ... investor-wise, it was softening a little bit, that’s because obviously the land tax that’s happening at the moment, so we shifted our focus,” he said.
Their agent, Yvette Tancheff, of Ray White, said the campaign attracted strong bidders.
“I thought it might get up to $3 million, I didn’t think it would get over,” she said.
Tancheff said the local market was steady, but prices had dropped about 10 per cent in the past six months.
Newlyweds Kristian and Mimi Belperio won third place for their renovation of House 5, another that won regular praise from the judges.
After a hard-fought auction that rose largely in increments of $25,000, they sold for $2.93 million through Stockdale & Leggo.
They won a $50,000 reduction in their reserve, to $1.9 million, for delivering the best room in the clubhouse, the cinema. They will take home $1.03 million.
Kristian and Mimi watch on nervously during the bidding. Credit: Nine
“It’s quite surreal,” Mimi said.
“I started freaking out at $50,000,” Kristian added.
Best mates Ricky Recard and Haydn Wise sold House 3 – dubbed “the Fun Factory”, for its games room, boat and pink garage door – for $2.7 million through Ray White, making a $750,000 profit.
“Feeling bloody chuffed,” Haydn said. “We already feel like we’ve won The Block. We’ve won so many friends.”
“We were just lucky to have that many buyers in the room”: Ricky and Haydn walked away with a $750,000 windfall.Credit: Nine
Ricky said: “Whether it was the toys that got it done or the house that got it done, I think we were just lucky to have that many buyers in the room.”
Cairns couple Kylie and Brad Baker sold House 4 in a slower-paced auction for $2.6 million, and will take home $650,000. Their agents in conjunction were from McGrath and Alex Scott.
The Bakers had an eventful season, pursuing a distinctive black-themed interior design that garnered mixed reviews from the judges, and leaving before the final week of clubhouse renovations. But they returned to vindication, and said they would even renovate again.
“It has been worth it,” Kylie said. “[The prizemoney] just takes so much pressure off us.”
The Block host Scott Cam was not fazed by Portelli’s declaration that this would be his last year attending the program’s auctions.
“We love Adrian but there’s plenty of people who are keen to buy those houses,” he said.
Cam said this year’s auctions had attracted the most bidders, and some homes had eight to 10 registered bidders.
Contestants Kylie and Brad sold their house for $2.6 million, taking home $650,000.Credit: Nine
He said the lower price point this year than last year had attracted family bidders. The median house price in Cowes is $762,500, on Domain data.
Cam also noted the tax depreciation schedule, set at about $5 million for each house.
The program’s co-creator Julian Cress highlighted the challenge for contestants on next year’s show.
“Our new crop of contestants that will be joining us in Daylesford soon are going to know coming in that they’re not going to be selling to Adrian Portelli, so they’re going to have to knuckle down and build some beautiful houses for some local families next year,” Cress said.
Cress praised the Harry sisters’ work on the program. “It’s a fairytale ending.”
As for the state’s higher land tax, Cress said he believed property prices on the Bass Coast had come back about 6 per cent to 7 per cent during the program’s season.
“That was scaring the shit out of me, to be honest, and then there’s an Airbnb tax coming in on the 1st of January as well, the interest rates haven’t gone down. I think that we all felt a little gloomy in the last month,” he said.
Cress acknowledged the estate agents’ work drawing more bidders than in previous seasons.
“To have an auction that has six, seven, eight, nine starters with paddles who are all registered to bid is extraordinary,” he said.
He agreed the sub-$2 million price point attracted more potential buyers, but noted the bidding soared higher.
“Adrian, quite frankly, wouldn’t have paid $3.3 million if he didn’t have to in the first auction,” Cress said.