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Shelley Craft and Scott Cam on The Block in 2025. Picture: Channel 9.<\/p>\n
The Block could be heading for another auction flop in 2026 \u2014 with insiders warning that producers are setting contestants up to fail by again picking a quieter Victorian market for the next season.<\/p>\n
Agents close to the show have revealed that filming for the 2026 series has been locked in for Victoria\u2019s Mornington Peninsula<\/a>, sparking fears of a repeat of this year\u2019s lacklustre auction results.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s much hyped auctions failed to deliver the contestants with the kind of profits seen over previous seasons<\/a>, with two of the five contestants failing to sell their properties at auction.<\/p>\n Even the winning contestants, WA cops Taz and Britt, walked away with a profit that was less than the last placed contestants on the 2024 season.<\/p>\n MORE: Off screen event doomed Block finale<\/a><\/p>\n The property of contestants Han and Can failed to attract a bid at auction.<\/p>\n MORE: \u2018Smells 24\/7\u2019: Secret way Block ruins homes<\/a><\/p>\n Contestants Han and Can failed to attract a single bid over their opening vendor bid of $3.1m.<\/p>\n One of the auctioneers on this year\u2019s Block finale, Tom Panos, said part of the discrepancy between last season\u2019s results and this year\u2019s was that celebrity buyers like Adrian Portelli sat the auctions out<\/a>.<\/p>\n This meant local market dynamics came into play and Channel 9\u2019s decision to shoot in Daylesford, 120km northwest of Melbourne, was partly behind the middling sales results this year, Mr Panos said.<\/p>\n Daylesford is a property market that has struggled, with prices still an average of about 11 per cent lower than they were in 2022, PropTrack data shows.<\/p>\n Mr Panos, said producers could be repeating this mistake with their decision to film next year\u2019s show in Mount Eliza, 62km south of Melbourne.<\/p>\n This market, like Daylesford, has prices that have yet to return to their 2022 peaks, with the typical cost of a house in Mount Eliza still about 10 per cent below what it was three years ago.<\/p>\n Auctioneer Tom Panos said renovators could get more profits in other locations outside regional Victoria. Picture: John Appleyard<\/p>\n Big spenders like Adrian Portelli (right) ensured huge results in previous seasons but their absence meant local market dynamics became more important on the 2025 season<\/p>\n Mr Panos also noted that Victoria in general, including Melbourne, has been one of the country\u2019s weaker markets in recent times and is not where typical investors would be attempting house flips at the moment.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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