West Australian police officers Britt and Taz Etto have won reality renovation show The Block, and take home $520,000 on a mixed auction day in Daylesford, where two homes failed to sell at auction.

Two other homes fetched an auction premium of less than $150,000 each, a more muted result than the lucrative prizes of recent years, when billionaire Adrian Portelli often bid large sums. The Block airs on Nine, owner of this masthead.

Britt and Taz are winners of The Block 2025.Credit:Nine Entertainment

The five new homes for sale were listed with price guides of $3 million to $3.3 million, and four of the five had reserve prices of $2.99 million, which was a point of contention among the show’s contestants, who create a home, take it to auction and pocket any money it sells for above the reserve.

Many wished for lower reserves to sell their homes in the regional town about 110 kilometres from Melbourne, where the median house price is $820,000 on Domain data.

Britt and Taz’s home at 3 Cedar Lane was the first auction on Saturday, and it was hoped the healthy buyer interest would set the tone for the others.

Bidding began at $2.85 million by buyer’s agent and Block regular Frank Valentic of Advantage Property Consulting, and three parties raised the price in varying increments.

House 3 Britt and Taz
3 Cedar Lane, Daylesford VIC 3460

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The underbidder was another Block regular, Melbourne IT entrepreneur Danny Wallis, who made his trademark odd-numbered bids, including one at $3,333,000.33.

An investor won the day, but did not want to go on camera and was bidding by phone via Peter Burley of Buxton Ballarat.

Auctioneer Damien Cooley sold the property at $3.41 million, a premium of $420,000 above the reserve. Britt and Taz also receive the $100,000 winner’s cheque, for a total prize of $520,000.

Taz said: “We’re feeling very happy for what we’ve done and the product we produced, but those blokes behind us, they actually put their heart and soul into the houses and we just don’t think they got the rewards for effort.”

Contestants watch on as the auctions unfold.Credit:Nine Entertainment

Britt described the result as “bittersweet”, although it was enough money to pay off their mortgage. “Why we went first [was] so everyone will make money and when that didn’t happen, it destroys you,” she said.

Taz, a Dharawal man, added: “I’ve always wanted to set an example for young blackfellas coming through.”

He said he had done this previously through football, working in prisons and policing.

“It’s just now there’s 6 million people watching.”

The couple’s selling agent, Buxton Ballarat’s Mark Nunn, said there were 11 registered bidders, most of them investors attracted to the generous depreciation schedules that might reduce tax payable.

“We are thrilled with the result,” he said. “[But] if you are expecting five houses to sell on the same day in the same market in a regional [area], that is pretty unlikely.

“We didn’t want the reserves to be that high, we tried to get them lower.”

Not all contestants fared so well as Britt and Taz.

House 1 Emma and Ben
5 Cedar Lane, Daylesford VIC 3460

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Emma Shanahan and Ben Cox’s home at 5 Cedar Lane drew an opening bid of $2.5 million.

Within two bids the price rose to $2.9 million, but the stride shortened to $20,000 and then $10,000 bids by three parties.

At $2.97 million, still $20,000 short of reserve, selling agent Aaron Hill of Ray White Sunbury took a call and the auction was paused.

It resumed with a vendor bid of $3.1 million, calling for a rise of $100,000. With no further bids, the home passed in.

Emma Shanahan and Ben Cox’s home at 5 Cedar Lane was passed in. Credit:Nine Entertainment

This avoids a situation where the house sells for only a small premium over reserve, and allows the agent to negotiate privately with interested parties.

The teacher and engineer from Melbourne made the strategic decision on the fly, encouraged by the show’s host, Scott Cam.

Ben said they thought if they could make about $100,000 in a post-auction sale, they would be “stoked”.

“But you can’t help but feel like you’re losers on the finale of a great show,” he said. “Puts a bit of a dampener on it.”

Ben said Portelli’s bidding in recent years “has just inflated prices and set that expectation a bit too high”.

Last year, Portelli, the founder of a subscription business offering discounts and giveaways, spent $15.03 million to buy all five houses at auction, and even countered one rival’s $2.5 million bid with a $3.5 million offer.

On reserves, Emma said: “Us and all our other neighbours thought that they were really high.”

The pass-in strategy was in response to a surprise result for the second auction of the day, Robby Lippett and Mat Johnson’s home at 1 Cedar Lane.

House 5 Robby and Mat
1 Cedar Lane, Daylesford VIC 3460

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The best friends from Adelaide, who are a barber and hairdresser, won as many room reveals as Britt and Taz did. But that did not translate into a bidding war.

Bidding on the house began at $2.8 million and soon passed the $2.99 million reserve amid offers from three parties.

As the race narrowed to two bidders – Valentic and Wallis – the price crept up in modest increments of $20,000 or less. Auctioneer Tom Panos sold the home to Wallis for $3,099,999.

After three months of filming and an extended marketing campaign, Robby and Mat made $109,999, which they will split.

Best friends Robby and Mat will split $109,000.10.Credit:Nine Entertainment

“It’s not the best outcome, but we had a great time,” Mat said.

Robby said: “Mat and I are very proud of what we have done. I think the only thing we’re a bit disappointed with is the higher reserve than we thought.”

He said they had buyer feedback at about $3 million, meaning a reserve close to that did not help.

The pair’s agent, Kim McQueen of McQueen Real Estate, was pleased to sell on the day.

House 4 Sonny and Alicia
2 Cedar Lane, Daylesford VIC 3460

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“The price we got for the house was a great price for Daylesford homes, and given the state of the Daylesford market,” she said. “It has been really slow for the last few years.

“The reserves were very, very high for these homes.”

After the two lacklustre results, Sonny and Alicia Aplin’s agents, BigginScott, did not take chances on 2 Cedar Lane.

The auction began with a vendor bid of $3.05 million. Valentic offered $3.06 million and with no further competition, the hammer fell.

Sonny and Alicia take home $120,000.Credit:Nine Entertainment

The Gold Coast couple, a plumber and a dental practice manager, won a $50,000 reduction on their reserve price to $2.94 million as a prize for their front yard – plus a car – and take home $120,000.

After struggling to find favour with the judges and watching their neighbours’ results, the couple was upbeat.

“No regrets at all,” Alicia said. “We’ve been so fortunate today.”

They agreed the reserves were too high.

House 2 Han and Can
4 Cedar Lane, Daylesford VIC 3460

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“I think there [were] a lot of bidders there today who were probably prepped up to about $3 million, and no higher,” Sonny said.

A similar strategy unfolded at 4 Cedar Lane for Perth geologist Hannah Thetford and marketing and social media analyst Candice Wood, which was handled by Belle Property.

A vendor bid of $3.1 million began proceedings, but no offers followed. The auction paused for discussions with potential buyers without success and the home passed in.

Candice said the couple had learnt from the prior auctions.

Han and Can watched on with nerves before their house was passed in.Credit:Nine Entertainment

“Incredibly tough market, obviously a lot of people came here expecting to spend $3 [million], we needed a little bit more than that,” Candice said.

Hannah was hopeful the home would sell soon. “Someone will love it as much as we do.”

There were 1762 homes scheduled to go to auction in Melbourne in the past week. By Saturday evening, Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 67.2 per cent from 1226 reported results throughout the week, while 134 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

The Block co-creator Julian Cress said the day was “up and down”.

The Block’s Scott Cam, pictured with Shelley Craft, said he was disappointed for those who didn’t sell.Credit:Nine Entertainment

“I don’t think that five houses have ever been auctioned before in one single day in Daylesford,” he said. “I’ve got no doubt that people are going to buy them.

“We weren’t even willing to accept the reserve price. We were putting in vendor bids above that because we wanted to protect our friends, these contestants, and make sure that they won some money.”

Cress said the reserves were set by Channel Nine representatives.

But he thought Britt and Taz’s success proves the show was “alive and well”. Filming will move to Mount Eliza, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, next year.

Cam said he was disappointed for those who didn’t sell, but said they still had an opportunity to find buyers post-auction.

He thought the reserve pricing was “a little bit high, but having said that, Britt and Taz’s house sold for $420,000 over that reserve”.

“The room didn’t have much money above 3 million bucks after that,” he said. “Last year you’ve got to remember Adrian [Portelli] was a very unusual situation.”

Cam previously told this masthead that Portelli had been asked “politely” not to turn up.

But on Saturday, Cam said Portelli was the one who had decided not to return.

“We were happy for Adrian to buy a house, for sure,” he said. “We were hoping he wouldn’t buy five houses.”