$3 million dreams in an $800k town. Has The Block lost the plot?

Being a self-confessed property nerd, I've been watching The Block since its inception in 2003 in Bondi, when a bunch of millennial (or possibly Gen X) hopefuls used their DIY skills to try to add every soft furnishing and pendant light they could find to install a sense of beige into their little boxy apartments.

In those innocent days, the contestants didn't have Instagram accounts, they seemed to have some prior experience doing a DIY renovation, building or design and therefore understood what would work in a flip rather than a flop.

The general premise, then and now, is that in every season, contestants are given a budget and 12 weeks to renovate and style a property to sell at auction, and for the first time ever this season, they built the houses from scratch.

So this season, it flummoxed me to see contestants Matt and Robby proudly declare that the closest they had come to renovation or building was basically doing a bit of cushion fluffing in their hairdressing salon. They admitted they hadn't even watched The Block (so why were they there?)

Outback coppers, Britt and Taz felt that doing some IKEA hacks and turning toy boxes into window seating came close to 'amateur renovation' experience.

Sonny and Alicia built a granny flat, which is commendable and a good idea in a cost-of-living crisis.

According the The Block website, Han and Can have both been 'exposed to construction and real estate' through their families. Not sure what that means.

Only one pair of contestants, Emma and Ben, could lay claim to having actual renovation experience, having flipped multiple houses and documented the process on their Instagram account.

The Block finds a winner that makes the most profit after a reserve price is established prior to auction.

Potential bidders are wooed by the contestants at open for inspections and then the stage is set for what should be one of the biggest money spinners in the contestants' lives ... auction night.

The final orgy of broadcast property porn comes to a climactic ending on auction night when the contestants compete for the highest price over reserve when the hammer falls.

The winner with the highest price wins a bonus $100,000 on top of their profit, champagne is popped, everyone hugs ... its' a beautiful thing.

Generally, every contestant walks away with a profit over reserve. It's one of the most watched TV shows on free-to-air broadcast for this simple yet brilliant winning strategy.

The producers basically turned every Australian's Saturday entertainment of standing on the street watching the neighbours' house go to auction and declaring ... "Oooh if they got that for their house and it doesn't even have a north-facing garden we'll definitely get an extra $50,000 if we put ours for sale" into live television.

Magic!

At around this time every year, I have been ready with my glass of wine on the couch alongside millions of other Aussies, looking forward to yelling at the TV and participating in one of the last remaining monoculture live TV events of the year.

It's the Grand Final of real estate reality telly!

That's why it was so disappointing that this year's auction night was more of a damp flop of the gavel rather than the hard hit of a suburb-smashing record-breaking profit fest for the contestants that it usually is.

Britt and Taz's property was first to go up for auction and sold to a mystery purchaser who managed to secure the winning bid of $3,410 million.

Brit and Taz were the eventual winners whose 'start first strategy' gave them a $520,000 total windfall. I personally loved their property and was happy they came through as the winners.

The win was no small beer, but in the history of Block auctions definitely not a record breaker.

Even the bidders seemed depressed. There was the same old tired rollout of Danny, the 'not so' mysterious millionaire with the flat cap, big belly and the odd bids that generally end in a satanic 666 (the number of the beast).

He bought just one house this year, Robby and Matt's (his 12th Block buy) and then ducked out of the rest of the bidding, seemingly missing the competitive bids usually placed by his arch-nemesis, Lambo Guy (sorry, Adrian Portelli) who has switched to Channel 7's My Reno Rules.

Understandably, he wasn't on the invite list.

Danny's dog had more fun than the bidders at the auction, who seemed more enamoured watching the poodle sniff some pot-plants than bid on a property.

To stay with the canine theme, it was a dog's breakfast.

Robby and Matt made just over a moderate $100K, hardly worth shutting up the hairdressing shop for (if the prices my stylist charges for half a head of foils are anything to go by), as did Sonny and Alicia.

Poor Han and Can walked away with zero after their property passed in, not making reserve, alongside Emma and Ben and no amount of forced frivolity could hide their absolute sadness.

And it all could have been avoided if the universal reserve prices of $2,990,000, was in line with the reality of the market.

Daylesford did hit some highs in terms of property prices during the pandemic as locked-down Melbournians rushed for a tree change, but since 2021 it's been on a steady trajectory downwards, or as experts say, the market has been 'correcting'.

The current median house price is around $800,000 according to view.com.au suburb trends with an average of 163 days on the market and a tiny price rise from the $775,000.

So how did everyone on The Block get it so wrong?

There are enough property experts in the judging panel, they have a large property portal to check their median sale prices through, but they still went ahead with trying to get over $3 million as a reserve.

That's right readers, ALMOST THREE MILLION DOLLARS EACH RESERVE FOR FIVE HOUSES!

And in a market where according to recent sales data, the highest confirmed sale in Daylesford over the last six months was one four-bedroom house at 14 Chatfield Avenue that sold for $1.95 million on 12 October.

Records show the last recorded $3 million property sale in Daylesford was 88 West Street, which sold in March 2021 during 'tree change fever'.

No other properties in the Daylesford township have sold for $3 million or more, according to a local real estate agent ever since (until last night where one did).

Even presenter Scott Cam said to camera: "It seems selling five houses on the same day in Daylesford was possibly a bit of a tall order."

The question remains, has The Block lost the plot?

It used to be a bell-weather for the property market. When paddles were swinging on The Block you knew times were high if you were a seller and you were in for a bumpy ride if you were a first home buyer - but it would all be worth it if you could get onto that elusive first rung of the property ladder.

But over the last few years, The Block seems to be more interested in contestants with the most engaged Insta audience and story arcs of show sponsors (the McCafé baristas sometimes have more personality than the contestants) than the actual ins and outs of renovations, building and the property market - the country's true obsession and reason for watching.

It's a shame as I loved the old-skool Block, when the prices commanded on auction night were vaguely in the sight lines of most aspiring Aussies, homeowners or not.

There used to be a sense of "I could do that to my place" or "I could get that for my place", or "one day I'll own a place."

Now it feels like the aspiration and real estate reality of The Block is on the chopping block.

The market has spoken.