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The Block 2023: The show's most expensive houses ever
Australia's favourite renovation show has produced some incredible auction results.
When The Block first kicked off way back in 2003, who knew it would still be going strong 20 years later? Over the years, 67 properties have sold on the show, resulting in some teams scoring pretty hefty paydays.
With Season 19 now underway, we take a look back at some of the most expensive homes ever to have sold on the ratings winner and who forked out big bucks to buy them.
Way back in 2003, the first-ever series of The Block, the winners scored $265,000, with Adam and Fiona's Bondi unit selling for $751,000. While that doesn't get you much in the Sydney property market today, back then this was a huge win for the pair.
The show was off-air between 2005 and 2009, but came back with a bang in 2010 with the first-ever sale to cross the $1 million mark. Josh and Nisha's Vaucluse unit scored them a $305,000 profit after selling for $1,105,000 and from then on, everything changed.
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The show's homes continued to excel at auction, for the most part, with most couples making the most of Australia's property boom. After moving the show to Melbourne, the series had one of its biggest successes yet, with Season 5 contestants Brad and Lara selling their South Melbourne terrace for $1.62 million, making themselves a $606,000 profit — the highest ever made on the show at the time.
Season 8 was Fans v Faves and all four properties sold for over $2.3 million, with Steve and Chantelle's unit fetching $2.47 million to give them a $736,000 profit.
After a lacklustre auction in 2014 which saw some couples leave almost empty-handed, things heated up in 2015 with The Block Triple Threat in South Yarra. Husband and wife team and Block favourites Darren and Dee set a new record, selling their unit for $2.29 million, which gave them a record-smashing winning sum of $935,000.
Even Dee, who was very opinionated throughout the series, was lost for words saying: "I'm shocked, I'm speechless — for the first time ever."
From there, The Block sales were on the up-and-up, thanks to contestants pushing the boundaries and pulling in some star buyers. In 2017, Josh and Elyse's Elsternwick property was the first to crack the $3 million mark, selling to comedian Dave Hughes, and earning them a tidy profit of $547,000.
Three seasons and a monster renovation later in Brighton, Jimmy and Tam dominated the auction, not only breaking the show's sale price record, but offering up one of the most unusual houses ever on the show.
In 2020, the pair beat their reserve of $3,290,000, selling for a massive $4,256,000. They scored $966,000 profit and $100,000 prize money, giving them record-breaking $1,066,000.
Unfortunately, Jimmy and Tam's win was short-lived, as their buyer didn't end up paying for the property, and after eight long months of legal issues, the home eventually sold to someone else for $4 million — a $256,000 discount.
Block favourites Mark and Mitch fetched a hefty payday when gave the show a second shot in Season 17, selling their house for over $4 million and securing themselves $644.444.44 in profit plus a $100,000 prize.
But in Season 18, a controversial auction led to Western Sydney mates Oz and Omar breaking the record for the highest amount of profit ever made in a Block auction. With a reserve of $4.08 million, their Tree Change property was sold for $5,666,666.66, scoring them a jaw-dropping $1,586,666 plus $100,000 in prize money.
It was a lucky turn of events for the pair, as the auction results in 2022 were the lowest since 2011. Three of the homes were passed in, and the only other one to sell on auction day netted Tom and Sarah-Jane a paltry $20,000.
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