Auction order gifted Tess and Luke their Block win
By | 12th Nov 19

The Block auctions in 2019 are now over. The order of the auctions set up Luke and Tess for the win and the boys will be rueing their decision to go first. I know my buyers always hold back on the first auction to get a feel for the vibe at the Block auctions just like two boxers do at the start of a twelve round boxing fight.

Here’s how they all ranked:

 WINNER: Tess and Luke, $730,000 ($630,000 over reserve + $100,000 prize money) ($3,620,000)

 2ND PLACE: El’ise and Matt, $460,000 ($3,450,000)

 3RD PLACE: Andy and Deb, $430,000 ($3,420,000)

 4TH PLACE: Jesse and Mel, $388,000 ($3,378,000)

 5TH PLACE: Mitch and Mark, $384,000 ($3,374,000)

 This was a massive $2,392,000 above reserve, a whopping $478,400 on average per contestant. This was well above the $1,980,000 above reserve we saw at the Gatwick series ($412,000 or 21% above).

The contestants can thank The Block’s Executive producers for the very kind, low $2,990,000 reserves. The order of the auctions was crucial in the results and Tess and Luke were handed the win on a plate by going early on, as position number 2 has seen a number of wins over The Block series, including Sara and Hayden’s surprise win last year.

The auction order was crucial and it was a masterstroke by Tess and Luke to negotiate position number 2 and on the flipside, it was a disaster move by the boys to offer to go first as it made them finish last. The Block’s auctions usually starts with the most popular properties first and finish with the least popular properties. Contestants who are earliest in the order are at a big advantage as there is a larger buyer pool and more buyers competing, apart from position number one!

After taking hundreds of buyers through the houses over the last few months, I received consistent feedback that the boys would win followed by Jesse and Mel, with Andy and Deb in third place. Jessie and Mel were definitely disadvantaged by being last as the pool of buyers diminishes with each auction.

Our Buyer’s Advocate Company was bidding for a number of local investors, which was a very different buyer segment compared to the Elsternwick series where we bid for a number of local young families and one investor. We were disappointed to miss out on four houses but it is important to stick to your budgets and not overpay and not get carried away with all The Block hype. We were delighted to buy Andy and Deb’s property for a repeat investor client who we bid for on the last Gatwick series and missed out on the last property, as we were underbidders to the two sisters who were the old owners of the Gatwick.

Congratulations to all of The Block contestants on another successful series with total winnings of $2,392,000, which was a great result considering the Grey Street locale of these St Kilda houses.

We were excited to bid on our 11th Melbourne series of The Block, having now bid on a total of 40 of the 48 Melbourne Block properties. We were happy to purchase our 8th Block property and continue to hold the record for bidding on more Block properties than any other Buyer’s Advocate. This veteran Block Buyers Advocate looks forward to being involved in our 12th Melbourne series when The Block moves to Brighton!