The Block 2020
By | 23rd Nov 20

The Block auctions in 2020 are now over and the order of the auctions helped Tam and Jimmy for the win. Buyers always hold back on the first auction to get a feel for the vibe at The Block auctions and being the second auction has proven to be the winning position on many past Block auctions, as it was last year when Tess and Luke won.  Here’s how they all ranked:

THE WINNER's 1. Jimmy and Tam: $1.066m ($966,000 over reserve, plus $100,000 winner’s prize)

2. Sarah and George: $650,002

3. Harry and Tash: $650,000

4. Luke and Jasmin: $506,000      

5. Daniel and Jade: $460,000

This was a massive $3,332,002 above reserve, a whopping $666,400 on average per contestant. This was well above the $1,980,000 above reserve we saw at the Gatwick series and the $2,392,000 we saw at last years Oslo series. The contestants can thank Danny Wallis for his knockout bids. He broke every rule for how you should bid at an auction. Upping bids by $500,000 to a million dollars is not a smart strategy as the other bidders including all the Buyers Advocates including me were out at $500,000 less than his bids. It was a disappointing day for our Buyer’s Advocate clients at our 12th consecutive series of The Block auctions but it is important to stick to your auction budgets. 

The auction order was again crucial and it was a masterstroke by Jimmy and Tam to choose position number 2.  The Block’s auctions usually start 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! Though the Danny Wallis factor made the order less relevant. 

After taking hundreds of buyers through the houses over the last few months, I received consistent feedback that Luke and Jasmine would win followed by dark horses Harry and his daughter Tash.  Our Buyer’s Advocate Company had interest from the same buyer segment in the Elsternwick series where we bid for a number of local young families and downsizing families.  We were disappointed to miss out on all five houses but it is important to stick to your budgets and not overpay and not get carried away with all The Block hype. The previous Oslo and Gatwick series were popular with our investor clients but they sat it out on the sidelines as many of them are doing due to Covid 19 and these unpredictable times. 

Congratulations to all of The Block contestants on another successful series with record total winnings of $3,332,002. I personally bid on a number of the houses for myself but stuck to my pre auction budget and wasn't prepared to overpay as I believe all the other buyers did. We were excited to bid on our 12th Melbourne series of The Block, having now bid on a total of 45 of the 53 Melbourne Block properties. We were disappointed not to purchase our 9th Block property and we 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 hopefully being involved in our 13th Melbourne series when The Block moves to Bronte Court, Hampton.