Colourful characters: The Block former contestant Suzi Taylor was linked to the late businessman Geoffrey Edelsten (top left) while a seedy former South Yarra hotel was renovated on the show (bottom left) and a Crazy John’s mascot (middle bottom) makes an auction bid in the first season. Police often attended The Gatwick in St Kilda before it featured on the program (bottom right). Pictures: Supplied
It’s buyer beware at The Block, with one in five of the people buying from the show reselling at a loss.
One purchaser was a staggering $600,000 worse off when they sold six years after buying.
Other homes have languished on the market for hundreds of days as they wait for someone to make an offer on a reno led by a pair of amateurs whose mistakes have been aired on national TV.
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Professional buyers insist the show can offer good value for money, with the likes of comedian and TV personality Dave Hughes and serial buyer Danny Wallis still holding onto their purchases.
But of the 32 Block properties relisted for sale since being auctioned fully furnished on air over the first 19 seasons, seven have sold at a loss, two more failed to sell entirely and seven more struggled to seal a deal — taking more than 60 days to do so, far above Melbourne’s 35-day average house’s days on market before a sale, and well beyond the 45-day typical apartment timeline.
Comedian Dave Hughes bought an Elsternwick house renovated by The Bock’s winning couple Josh Barker and Elyse Knowles in 2017. Picture: Channel 9.
The Block host Scott Cam, centre, with contestants outside The Gatwick in St Kilda. Picture: Channel 9.
The late Crazy John’s mobile phone store empire owner, John Ilhan, spent $670,000 on an apartment at 2/67 Roscoe St, Bondi, in The Block’s first season after sending an employee dressed as his business’ mascot to bid. Ilhan later sold two years later for $560,000, losing $120,000 in the process.
The worst result so far was for a three-bedroom apartment at 164 Ingles St, Port Melbourne, renovated in the show’s 2016 season and sold for $2.59m under the hammer.
CoreLogic records show it sold again in 2022 for $1.98m, some $610,000 less despite a six-year interval.
The 11th season followed the rejuvenation of an octagonal former South Yarra hotel where self-proclaimed vampire gigolo and prostitute Shane Chartres-Abbott was accused of raping a client in 2002.
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Since The Block’s cameras switched off at the once-maligned hotel, many of the homes have struggled.
One apartment sold for $1.722m in July 2016, $13,000 less than the $1.735m a buyer forked out on the show a year earlier.
Another hit the market in May 2019 and spent 278 days on the market with a $2.445m price tag that failed to attract a sale.
It was relisted last year but languished on the market for a further 291 days.
5/164 Ingles St, Port Melbourne, sold on the show for $2.59m in 2016 but only fetched $1.98m in a post-program sale.
The former Saville Hotel in South Yarra before it received a new look on The Block.
Melbourne entrepreneur and business consultant David Brandi has bought at least four of the show’s properties since 2011 starting with a house at 43 Cameron St, Richmond, which he made a $116,000 profit selling two years later.
Mr Brandi also collected $550,000 for a townhouse bought off the show at 5/125 High St, Prahran, in 2014, but he lost $120,000 in 2021 when he sold a home he paid $1.67m in the South Yarra hotel the show renovated in its 11th season.
He also briefly listed 6/164 Ingles St, Port Melbourne, for sale in 2016 but has since rented it out.
A townhouse from The Block’s 2015 season at 27 Darling St, South Yarra, sold for $2.2m last year, below the $2.29m it attracted on air seven years prior. A second townhouse from that season spent 283 days on the market last year, but failed to sell.
4/27 Darling St, South Yarra, sold $2.29m on The Block in a previous season but was offloaded for $2.2m last year.
Also from the The Block Triple Threat season, 3/27 Darling St, South Yarra, failed to sell after 283 days on the market last year.
Construction software business Aconex co-founder Robert Phillpot snapped up two penthouses in St Kilda’s once-notorious Gatwick Hotel at the end of the program’s 2018 season.
Mr Phillpot spent $2.859m on one of the penthouses which he attempted to offload with a $3.4m-$3.7m asking price last April.
After failing to sell within 220 days the home was rented out, then relisted for sale earlier this year with a $2.9m-$3.15m guide that’s half a million dollars below what he was originally seeking.
It’s now under offer at an undisclosed price.
Danny Wallis with Scott Cam on The Block. Picture: The Block.
Suzi Taylor, then 44, alongside her best friend, Yvonne Cosier, starred on the The Block in 2015. Picture: Supplied.
Taylor leaving the Southport Watchhouse in May 2022.
In the 2022 season businessman Adrian Portelli and IT entrepreneur Danny Wallis made headlines for aggressively bidding against each other.
Richlister Portelli paid $4.25m for a Gisborne house and later raffled it off through his promotions company LMCT+.
Mr Wallis has had the better of it, purchasing nine Block properties over the years in an effort that has seen him splash more than $35m and donate some of the homes for charities to use as accommodation for ill children and their families.
Advantage Properties’ buyers advocate Frank Valentic has appeared on multiple seasons of the reality show.
Advantage Property Consulting director and buyer’s advocate Frank Valentic has bought nine Block properties on behalf of investors and bid on 48 homes across 14 seasons.
“It has been a good ride for myself and other buyer’s advocates and it’s also been very exciting and rewarding,” Mr Valentic said.
However Mr Valentic said last year’s season in Gisborne which saw the homes auctioned with
$4.08m reserves was tough for contestants who “struggled” to reach the figure — except for Omar and Oz whose property sold for $5,666,666.66.
“I don’t think any of the others will sell for $5.6m even in many years,” he said.
One of the houses sold for $3.9m, below the reserve, about four months after failing to sell on the show.
Dani Bacha from The Block’s second season left the show after it was revealed he has spent time on remand in prison.
And it’s not just the show’s homes that have run into trouble, with 2015 contestant and former Penthouse Pet of the Year, Suzi Taylor, arrested several times since appearing on the show.
Earlier this year a Queensland court fined Taylor $500 after she pleaded guilty to possessing dangerous drugs, possessing drug property and breaching bail.
Season two contestants Dani and Monique Bacha quit the program after it was revealed Dani had previously spent six months on remand in prison following his conviction of being an accessory in the manufacturing of a commercial quantity of methamphetamine.
Channel 9 declined to comment.
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