If you are a Blockhead like us you most likely tuned in to the Block finale last night. As we got one last sneak peek at each Brighton home and witnessed some hectic auctions, we decided to breakdown the season and give you a real estate insight as to how The Block actually works!
THE LOCATION
Located only 11km from Melbourne’s CBD, Brighton offers luxury bayside living at it’s finest. Attracting families and older demographics, the upmarket area has a sale median (for a 5 bedroom property) of a cool $3.8M. A vast majority of the houses within this area boast beautiful Victorian and Edwardian architecture, and the properties tend to have a larger land area, swimming pools, tennis courts, and more!
THE HOUSES
Reports state that the land each of the Brighton homes are situated on was bought by Channel Nine producers for close to $15M. Before the show’s pilot, 5 weatherboard houses were relocated onto the site to form a shell for each team to work with. Each from a different decade, ranging from the 1910s to the 1950s. On top of this, each team also had to build and style a 2-story extension, front gardens, backyards, and swimming pools
Each team was given the brief to stick to the decade in which their property was built and attempt to incorporate this into their design and styling. From what we know about the Brighton market (as stated above) older properties with character tend to be a common theme in the Brighton area, so this is already a great recipe for a high sales price.
THE SERIES
If each week was anything to go by, Queensland team Jimmy and Tam were the favourite to win. Week after week they produced winning rooms, gaining them extra prize money to add to their kitty. As the season progressed, Sarah and George and Harry and Tash started to gain some winning traction.
When the properties were listed online at Domain.com, it was stated that House 1 and 4 had a lot of buyer interest, with House 2 and 5 following closely behind.
So in the end, it was really anyone’s game.
THE AGENTS
So who exactly is representing each team? What are their qualifications and experience? Did this make a difference to the overall result?
HOUSE 1: Marty Fox – Whitefox Real Estate
The new kid on the block (quite literally), Marty had=s not yet sold a Block property and only kick-started his agency in 2017. However, this young-gun agent has over 11 years under his belt and in the last 3 years had settled over $1B worth of property in the Melbourne region.
HOUSE 2: Peter Kakos – The Agency
This was Peter’s fourth Block property to go under the hammer. In the campaign leading up to the big day, Kakos stated that he wanted to attract both active and passive buyers as “the Brighton Buyer is always looking”.
HOUSE 3: David Wood – Belle Property
No stranger to The Block, David has been selling properties on the show for the past 10 seasons. David believed that Daniel and Jade’s property attracted younger, growing families and was using the various social media tools Domain offers to attract these buyers.
HOUSE 4: Halli Moore – Buxton Brighton
The only Brighton specific agent to sell on The Block this year, Halli has an extensive database of buyers looking for property in the area.
HOUSE 5: Michael Townsend – McGrath
Michael has been selling property on The Block since the very first season in 2003. He managed to achieve $430k over the reserve for Andy and Deb in 2019 and took home the win for Hayden and Sara in 2018 ($645,000 total prize pool).
THE AUCTION
According to recent Melbourne auction statistics, auction clearance rates were sitting at around 65-75% and buyer activity is really starting to heat up now that COVID restrictions are lifting.
Due to restrictions, Channel 9 also facilitated buyer bidding over Zoom – much like the auction Livestream that we have been conducting since earlier this year.
After sitting on top of the ladder, House 5 had the power to determine the auction order. They made the strategic decision to put house 4 first, followed by themselves second, then house 2, 3, and 1 respectively. This decision was made based purely on buyer enquiry, with various buyers expressing interest in multiple properties.
One other major factor that played a part in the overall winner, was the reserve price. Each house was issued their reserve the week of the auction, and each was based on the house and land characteristics. The reserves were as follows:
House 1: $3.35M
House 2: $3.35M
House 3: $3.34m
House 4: $3.35M
House 5: $3.29M
Looking at this, we can see that the reserves are sitting at quite a bit lower than the sale median for a house with 5 bedrooms. It is also evident that House 5 had the upper hand when it comes down to the competition.
All bidding opened around the $3M mark, so the reserve was met almost instantly.
THE SALE PRICE
First up was House 4, with bidding kicking off in the $3M’s instantly. The bidding slowly started to climb with the hammer falling at $3,856,000.
House 5 was up next, with an opening bid at over $900,000 above the reserve. Bidders then started throwing obscure bids and the profit started to climb even more. The property then sold for $4,256,000.
Up next was House 2, securing a sales price of $4,000,002. Then House 3 selling for $3,810,000. Finally, House 1 went under the hammer and sold for a straight $4M.
According to buyer agent Nicole Jacobs, a seasoned Block Property professional, all properties represented outstanding value. She estimated each property to have around $2.1M land value, approx $2M for the build, plus an additional $500,000 for furnishings.
After the auctions, House 5 was crowned the winners and also took home an extra $100,000 in prize money.
What an outstanding season! We are already working on our application for next year….
TAYLAH ANTONIOLLI – MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR