The Block foreman Dan Reilly and his wife, ex-contestant Dani, have given their predictions about who they think will be the winners and losers come auction day this week.
All five of this year’s Block houses will go to auction on Saturday, with the results to air in this year’s grand finale on Sunday night.
And Dan and Dani were unanimous with their picks about who they think will win The Block this year – and who will finish last.
First, the bad news: The pair both agreed that WA couple Han and Can’s house will present the biggest challenge to sell at auction.
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“I think having a flat roof is a disadvantage this year. I don’t think their inside matches their garden. I think their backyard wasn’t as good as everyone else’s … it’s a very different style for Daylesford,” said Dan in a behind-the-scenes video posted to Nine’s website today.
His wife agreed. She said that while in some weeks the couple’s rooms were in a “league of their own,” they might have “missed the mark” on creating a home tailored to this year’s rural setting (Daylesford is around 90 minutes from Melbourne, nestled in the foothills of the Great Dividing Ranges).
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“They do have to consider where we are and what people want in a primary residence or a holiday home in Daylesford. I think they might have missed the mark a little bit there. Comparing all five homes, theirs is something I’d see in the inner city, versus (the others),” she said.
The couple picked Robby and Mat in house five as the contestants to beat come auction day.
“The way that property presents … it is going to hook people. People are going to come back for more and more and more,” said Dani.
She did concede there were elements of the house she didn’t love.
“Their kitchen is not my favourite, their living room is not my favourite. But looking at the whole property and how it’s gong to make people be able to imagine themselves in that house, it’s going to get them across the line,” she said.
Her husband agreed, predicting buyers would be wowed by their wine cellar and said the boys had an in-built advantage from picking the house that is positioned furthest away from the main road.
One thing’s for sure: All five teams this year will have to deliver record-breaking auction results if they want to make any profit.
With price guides ranging from $3.2 to $3.5 million, the houses are priced well above anything else in Daylesford – in fact, as realestate.com.au reports, only one house in the town has ever sold for $3 million before, and that happened during the height of the tree-and-sea change trend during the Covid pandemic.
Any of the five houses selling within their price guides will immediately break all sales records for the area.
Last year’s Block auctions had a very happy ending thanks to super-rich serial Block buyer Adrian Portelli, who bought all five homes and delivered even the “losing” team in fifth place a profit of $650,000.
But with Portelli insisting he’s out of the game this year, we could see a return to the more mixed Block results of other recent years: In 2022, winners Omar and Oz earned a record-breaking $1.68m profit while the team who came fifth, Dylan and Jenny, didn’t get a cent when their house eventually sold months after auction for $180,000 under their reserve.
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