Five couples from around the country have transformed fully furnished and untouched 1950s homes into high-end modern masterpieces in the Block’s latest season. The homes will be up for auction this Saturday on 4 November, airing on Nine the following night.
Celebrating 20 years since the first season aired in 2003, The Block is back in metropolitan Melbourne this year in the family-friendly suburb of Hampton East.
In addition to restoring the homes to their former glory (and adding a second storey), the Blockheads were tasked with creating a granny flat/studio on their properties.
In a first for the series, the envisioned designs for the five properties were revealed to the contestants at the beginning of the season, giving viewers and potential buyers a much earlier glimpse at the final products.
With the freshly renovated homes slated to go under the hammer in the season finale on Sunday, it’s expected the sales will exceed the suburb’s average home price of $1.648 million.
Agent price guides released exclusively with the listings on Domain range from $2.2 million to $2.4 million for Steph and Gian’s house to $2.7 million to $2.85 million for Eliza and Liberty’s house. The other three homes fall in the middle, with price guides of $2.5 million to $2.75 million.
The winner of this year’s auction will also take home an additional $100,000 on top of any profit made on auction day.
Channel Nine has also been dropping hints that there could be a few familiar faces at this year’s auction, including IT entrepreneur and serial Block bidder Danny Wallis and TV personality Hamish Blake.
It’s important to note that with these current price guides, this season of The Block is potentially facing a massive loss.
If the properties sell at the lower end of these guides, The Block will only make roughly $12.4 million, compared to the combined $14.3 million spent acquiring the five properties.
If the houses don’t reach the reserve price, they can be passed in and agents can then try to sell the house for a higher price at a later date.
The channel will be trying to avoid a repeat of 2022’s shocking auction finale, where two of the four million dollar country homes failed to sell at auction.
One house was offloaded to an investor in the days following the auction while another languished on the market, resulting in Blockheads Jenny and Dylan famously selling three months after the auction for a disappointing $180,000 under the reserve.
What are the homes worth?
House 1: Kyle & Leslie
House One’s Kyle and Leslie applied for The Block five times before finally making it onto the home renovation show this year. The firefighter and teacher’s aide from Perth are expected to bring in around $2.5 million to $2.75 million at the auction.
House 2: Leah & Ash
In the real world, House Two’s Leah and Ash have recently started their own building company and are renovating the home they share with their three children. On the show, their house has the same price guide as House One, between $2.5 million and $2.75 million.
House 3: Kristy & Brett
House Three’s Kristy and Brett chose the only corner block on the street in the hopes that it would give them an edge when it comes to auction time. The husband-and-wife duo’s house is also expected to sell for $2.5 million to $2.75 million.
House 4: Steph & Gian
The Block’s youngest couple, Steph and Gian, are favourites to take home the winning prize. Boasting consistently high scores and more room wins than any other contestant, agents are hoping the house can sell for its lower predicted figure of $2.2 million to $2.4 million.
House 5: Eliza & Liberty
Finally, House Five sisters Eliza and Liberty have no renovation experience, but they might end up with the biggest payoff at the auction. Agents are expecting their house to sell for $2.7 million to $2.85 million at the auction – the highest out of all the Blockheads.
