The wait is over, as The Block NZ 2020 houses finally go to auction this weekend. Tara Ward has the details. 

 

The Block NZ 2020 auctions are this Sunday night, but didn’t The Block NZ finish months ago?

Three’s popular renovation reality show finished its ninth season in September, just after New Zealand went into level four lockdown. The show’s four newly decorated townhouses were scheduled to be sold later that month, but due to Auckland’s ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, the auctions were postponed until this Sunday. 

So the end is in sight for a season that began in March 2020 and was disrupted by two national lockdowns?

Exactly. The Block NZ contestants will finally see their finished Point Chevalier townhouses (reportedly the largest and most expensive in Block NZ history) go to auction. They left their families and jobs for months to work on a building site during a global pandemic, and they’re about to find out if it was worth it. On auction night, each team will keep whatever profit they make above their house reserve, while the team with the most profit wins an extra $100,000. 

August feels like a lifetime away, so remind me who the contestants are.  

The four teams consist of husband and wife Meg and Dan, brothers Dylan and Keegan, friends Connie and Rach, and pals Tim and Arty. Tim and Arty’s home was voted by the show’s three judges as the best house on The Block.  

Does that mean Tim and Arty will win? 

Anything can happen on auction night, and while it would be fair for the teams to be financially rewarded for their hard work, nothing is guaranteed. In 2016, Sam and Emmett became The Block NZ’s biggest winners with a whopping $480,000 profit, but in 2019, three teams walked away from the finale without making a single dollar. Also, let us never forget that dark night in 2017 when The Block famously shat itself. 

What can we expect from the finale?

Nerves, tears and a whole lot of closure. Host Mark Richardson will be on-site at the Block houses, site foreman Peter “The Wolf” Wolfkamp and challenge host Shelley Ferguson will hopefully pop by, and the teams will report in from their hometowns around the country.  Best of all, there’ll be time for a look back on the longest season in Block NZ history and all the drama that took place. 

How will the auctions work while Auckland is still in level three? Will Mark Richardson host a picnic in his garden, while The Wolf makes sure no-one goes inside to use the toilet? 

The Block NZ finale is usually held with a live audience and plenty of hoopla, but Covid-19 slammed the gavel on these plans. This year the auctions will be pre-recorded and run online by Ray White New Zealand. You can expect something like this, which has a distinct 2021 “everything is fine” vibe: 

I dug down the back of my couch and found three Countdown dominoes and enough change for a 0.001% deposit on one of these homes. When can I start bidding? 

Sorry, you’re too late. The Block NZ auctions were held secretly on November 6, and the results are confidential until the finale screens this Sunday night. It will be the best kept secret in New Zealand, even more secret than the secret room behind the secret wall in Dylan and Keegan’s house.  

What impact will lockdown have on the values of The Block NZ houses? 

I put on a blazer and spit polished my monocle to analyse REINZ’s latest figures, which indicate that despite the Covid-19 hullabaloo, the Auckland housing market continues to be absolutely batshit. Last month the median house price in Auckland increased 25.0% from October 2020 to a record $1,250,000, while the median house price in Auckland City rose 14.2% compared to October last year, at $1,393,000. 

As for the suburb of Point Chevalier, homes.co.nz estimates the current median property value at $2.15 million, a capital growth of 29.6% over the last 12 months.

Shopping is fun, but I’d like to hear what Jen Baird, Chief Executive at REINZ, has to say about all this.

Baird said in a press statement that last month was a “stronger than average” October for Auckland’s housing market, despite the restraints the city was operating under. “We’re seeing the continuation of what is a firm market, despite the pandemic,” she says. 

This means lockdown hasn’t stopped Auckland houses selling for record amounts, which bodes well for The Block NZ, but not regular people who want to buy a regular house without inbuilt velvet headboards and a whiskey lounge. October house sales in Auckland were up 85.5% on the month before, although year on year, sales were down 20.3%. 

So even though Aucklanders can’t leave home, they’re still buying homes?

Exactly, and the REINZ October data indicates that selling houses online hasn’t limited the market. “Lockdown restrictions are having a reduced impact,” Baird says. “Real estate professionals have the resources to conduct business remotely, and customers/clients have the confidence to move forward to make decisions.”

I’m ready to move forward, so how do I watch The Block NZ 2020 finale?

All will be revealed on Three this Sunday 14 November at 7pm.