Courtney and Sev were worried about how the auctions would play out. Picture: Channel 9
Heading into the Block’s final day under the Victorian government’s new auction was a “scary” prospect for some of this year’s competitors.
Under the legislation, introduced in October, reserve prices on a residential property going to auction must be published seven days ahead of time.
This marked a change of pace for The Block, which traditionally reveals the reserves on air.
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Contestants Jolene and Adam, who renovated house 1 which ended up selling for $3.905m, said the new laws had caused them some nerve-racking moments.
“We know quite well obviously this was the first auction to be carried out with the new legislation, so it was scary, the unknown,” Adam said, after the auctions,
But he added he didn’t think the legislation had made too much difference in the end.
Fellow renovators Chantel and Wyatt, whose residence fetched $3.817m, were also stressed about the new laws.
“I was definitely a bit worried about the new law. We just didn’t know how it was going to go,” Chantal said, post-auction.
Chantel and Wyatt were left shocked. Picture: Channel 9
Wyatt noted that without the reserves being released, bidding could have potentially started at a higher dollar figure.
“Because knowing what a house’s reserve is, you don’t want to spend more than that of you know, if you can get it for that,” he said.
“Whereas these houses, you know, they cost almost $6m to make, you would expect the reserves to be around $4m, so not knowing what a reserve is, bidding could have started at $4m.”
Adam and Jolene come from South Australia. Picture: Channel 9
House 1: Adam and Jolene — $3.905m sale, $505,000 profit (including $50,000 reserve cut);
House 2: Chantel and Wyatt — $3.817m sale, $367,000 profit
House 3: Lisa and Rosco — $4m sale, $550,000 profit;
House 4: Courtney and Sev — $4.72m sale, $1.27m profit, plus $100,000 winners prize;
House 5: Rick and Tayla — $4.355m sale, $955,000 profit (including $50,000 reserve cut).
Propertyology founder Simon Pressley says selling a house on television is quite different to in real life. Picture: Supplied.
With all of the houses selling, one thing which wasn’t tested under Victoria’s new laws was whether The Block would pull a property from auction rather than accept their stated reserve.
Historically, when homes in past seasons have looked like they might sell at or above reserve, decisions have been made to pull them from negotiation.
Founder and managing director of national property market research firm and buyer’s agency, Propertyology, Simon Pressley, said that selling homes on television was very different to real life.
“It’s not a reflection of normal society, the people selling the property TV producers,” Mr Pressley added.
“So they’ve got a completely different agenda to if you or I owned one of those properties and complete that renovation ourselves and then put on the market.”
Apollo Auctions Australasia general manager Greg Brydon says time will tell if Victoria’s new auction laws are positive for the industry.
Mr Brydon, who was crowned winner of the 2026 Australasian Auctioneering Championships, said that he had received positive feedback from Victorian buyers about the new reserve laws across the past three weeks.
“Time will tell us to whether it’s been a good thing,” he added.
“However, transparency seems to be spurring on bidding for a lot of buyers if they see value at that price point.”
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