For several years now, fans of The Block have had one major criticism of the show — it’s out of touch with regular Australians.
This season is set in Mount Eliza in Victoria (highly sought-after real estate near Melbourne), with the ‘quiet luxury’ homes expected to sell for upwards of $5 million.
However, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics reporting that the average new owner-occupier home loan sits at around $750,000, the homes that fans are watching being renovated for weeks on end are actually very far from something that many of us can attain.
Viewers have taken to social media to air their grievances about it, with one person questioning why they don’t build homes that more people could actually buy.
“Why don’t they build houses that the ordinary person has a chance of buying? [There are] still houses from last season unsold. So contestants won nothing,” one fan wrote, adding that the show is focusing too much on drama and extravagance.
“Go back to doing up homes that normal people can buy, not just millionaires,” another begged.
“It’s tone-deaf! Why aren’t they building tiny homes, homeless solutions, eco-friendly medium density homes where transport is available?” a third questioned.
However, someone else pointed out why they believe the show won’t go down this route.
“It will go back to the contestant only getting $10k. The move this way was high risk, high reward, where the contestants could be earning $200k and upwards [if their house sells].”
However, that kind of prize money is becoming increasingly rare.
Last year, only Britt and Taz earned more than $200,000 for their house, taking home $520,000.
This was followed by Sonny and Alicia, who made $120,000 and Robby and Mat, who made $109,999.
Both Emma and Ben’s and Han and Can’s houses were passed in at auction after not meeting the $2,990,000 reserve.
Han and Can’s property is still for sale, now with a price of $2.59 million, while Emma and Ben’s house has a price of $2.6 million (with this season’s contestants currently housesharing here while renovating).
With all of this in mind, it somewhat proves the point that fans are making about the show.
Why The Block continues to choose more ‘aspirational’ homes
Mark Nunn, from Buxton Real Estate, who represents Lisa and Rosco this year and worked with Britt and Taz last year, told WHO that it would be tricky to keep the audience entertained while trying to still make a decent profit if the show focussed on ‘normal’ housing.
“It’s hard to build a house that’s, say, you know, in the average median house price of the Australian marketplace for a TV show.”
He continued, “Realistically, to try and build a house, and make a TV show out of it – because they’re also looking for what design edges they’ve got, what new innovations are coming into the market – it’s really hard to do that at, say, the median house price level.
“So I think… the way building costs have gone, The Block has naturally gone to a more of an aspirational type purchaser, more so than, you know, just build a house and sell it.”
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