COMMENTS: Block contestants disappointed with auction results have no reason to be.

No one should be surprised at the lower results for the teams on this year’s season of The Block, least of all the contestants.

Sure, past prize pools of $2.835 million (2016), $2.53 million (The Blocktagon, 2015) and $3.165 million (Triple Threat, 2015) have been enormous and many of the couples have been able, by virtue of just a few months’ renovation, to set themselves up financially for years to come.

But it isn’t that long ago – barely three years, in fact – that three couples walked away with less than $50,000 after the Prahran renovation, Glasshouse. Two of them left with $10,000 each in a prize pool of just $805,000.

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Though it’s frequently described as a renovation show, The Block really is a real estate show. And for real estate, it’s delivered in spades, with the most true to life auction outcome in some years.

This season has had a greater emphasis on the eventual buyer than others, with weekly visits from Domain’s national managing editor, Alice Stolz, to advise contestants on their sale prospects, as well as frequent commentary from the judges about whether the teams had their eventual buyer in mind.

Though Melbourne is the auction capital of Australia, it’s not particularly common for a house to soar well above its reserve (which is why when it does happen, it makes headlines) like we’ve seen in countless previous seasons. Think back to the Triple Threat victory of Dea and Darren Jolly – an eye-watering $835,000 above reserve. The market has clearly shifted since early 2015, and with the benefit of hindsight, this was almost certainly a clear sign of the times.

As Scott Cam highlighted on last night’s show, and as we reported during the week, Melbourne had a record auction day on Saturday, further increasing the pressure on five largely identical properties.

By any measure, a $95,000 profit on an auction is a positive, and Hannah and Clint Amos (whose auction result was the lowest on the day) were rightly elated with the result.

Though Melbourne property prices have continued to climb across the city this year, that growth is starting to stagnate. This is no secret. Also no secret: family-sized homes are more likely to attract owner-occupiers than investors, who have been prolific buyers of Block apartments in the past because of excellent tax depreciation schedules and the low maintenance they offer. Owner-occupiers are generally less likely than investors to take on the competition to grab a property at all costs.

The fact that all five of the houses sold is in itself a great result. As highlighted on Sunday’s episode, Melbourne’s clearance rate last weekend was 75 per cent (and 71 per cent on the day of The Block auctions). Several pundits the Domain team spoke to about the auctions in the past fortnight expressed concern at the depth of the potential buyer pool and openly suggested one or more of the houses might not sell.

It’s these results that make The Block‘s auction episode reality television in the true sense of the word “reality”. Warts and all, this is the reality that Melbourne property buyers and sellers face every weekend.

And in the age of social media endorsements, any contestant who feels they’ve been hard done by after a five month commitment that’s gifted them exposure to a huge national audience, as well as cheque for a six figure sum, needs to ask themselves what they actually thought they would be getting.