The Block 2019: Tess and Luke win, pocketing a $730,000 prize

Queensland newlyweds Tess and Luke Struber have won The Block for 2019, taking home a whopping $730,000 after their renovated Grey Street, St Kilda, terrace soared past its reserve at auction.

For the sixth season running, all five couples pocketed sizeable winnings. The Strubers’ four-bedroom property sold for $3.62 million, $630,000 above the $2.99 million reserve uniform to all five properties. They also claimed the $100,000 winner’s prize.

Runners-up El’ise and Matt Bothe, from Perth, won $460,000. Both teams were regarded as the underdogs, with more fancied rivals Mitch Edwards and Mark McKie, at 38A, having the most viewed property online, while Andy and Deb Saunders at 38C won the public vote at the open for inspection three weeks ago.

In total, the five teams shared a prize pool of $2.392 million – $412,000 more than was won last year at the Gatwick and the biggest prize money since the 2016 season in Port Melbourne, when couples took away a combined $2.935 million.

The Strubers sold their property to Melbourne-based barrister Rick Horsley, SC, who was convinced by his daughter to bid.

“The first time I walked into this one, I hated it,” Mr Horsley told Domain after the auction.

“I was persuaded by my architecturally-minded daughter that the spaces were good and the spaces would work.”

The strong bidding for their property – in steady increments of $10,000 for much of the auction – which ultimately made them victorious left the Strubers stunned.

“We’re just in shock,” Ms Struber said. “I think we’re really happy that everyone made some money. We haven’t even really concentrated on the fact that we’ve won.

“We’ve all had a really good result today, and that was more than we expected.”

View The Block 2021 properties for sale

• House 1, Ronnie and Georgia: 2 Bronte Court, Hampton
• House 2, Mitch and Mark: 4 Bronte Court, Hampton
• House 3, Tanya and Vito: 8 Bronte Court, Hampton
• House 4, Josh and Luke: 10 Bronte Court, Hampton
• House 5, Kirsty and Jesse: 1 Bronte Court, Hampton

Both the Strubers and the Bothes defied expectations to come first and second. In third place were the Saunders, who won $430,000. St Kilda locals Melissa Manson and Jesse Raeburn – who sold Courtney and Hans’ apartment last season to the Gatwick’s former owners, Rose Banks and Yvette Kelly – took away $388,000 and Mr Edwards and Mr McKie won $384,000.

The Strubers’ win comes after they last month slammed the show and its editing in an interview with News Corp, but at the auction on Saturday, they were only positive.

How much did The Block houses sell for?

• Tess and Luke: 38B Grey Street sold for $3,620,000 (total prize money $730,000, including $100,000 winner’s cheque)
• El’ise and Matt: 38D Grey Street sold for $3,450,000 (prize money $460,000)
• Andy and Deb: 38C Grey Street sold for $3,420,000 (prize money $430,000)
• Jesse and Mel: 38E Grey Street sold for $3,378,000 (prize money $388,000)
• Mitch and Mark: 38A Grey Street sold for $3,374,000 (prize money $384,000)

“We want to thank all the other contestants for being there with us the entire time; we couldn’t have gotten through it without them every single one of them. It doesn’t matter if there’s drama,” Ms Struber said.

Their auctioneer, David Wood of Hocking Stuart – who also sold the winning home in the 2017 season – said the acoustic separation and self-contained flat at the back of the home secured the victory for 38B.

“The people who purchased it really coveted the studio space, they really loved it,” he said.

Mr Horsley concurred: “The bang for your buck is undeniable. We live in Middle Park, and we wanted to downsize and this is an opportunity to downsize in financial terms, but still get a lot of space and a lot of facilities.”

The barrister had tried to buy winning couple Hayden and Sara’s apartment in last year’s season of The Block; he said it was “unfortunate” he had managed to pick a winner twice.

“I thought I was going to pick it up a bit more cheaply, and then someone came in from left field,” Mr Horsley said. “But that often happens at auctions, you just gotta live with it.

“It’s a good solid price and, as I say, there’s a lot of benefits.”

The Block’s 100 per cent clearance rate bucked the citywide trend on Saturday; from 957 scheduled auctions and 653 reported results, Melbourne recorded at 70.9 per cent clearance rate.

Mr Edwards and Mr McKie were thrilled for the Strubers, with whom they were close during the show.

“For a young couple to take away almost three-quarters of a million dollars – how exciting. They are set for life,” Mr Edwards said. “It was so good to see them do so well. They live in far north Queensland. That’s a lot of money for up there! They might buy a town!

“To sell five properties at this level in one run and all achieve great prices is a pretty high achievement.”

The pair chose to have their property auctioned first because they were told their house had the greatest buyer interest, and while they took out the greatest number of room reveal wins and the Domain magazine cover, they acknowledged that counted for naught come auction day.

“Auction day is a different thing. It all depends on the passion of somebody and what they’re after,” Mr Edwards said.

At the other end of The Block, St Kilda locals Mr Raeburn and Ms Manson had the shortest (and final) auction of the day, with their terrace attracting 12 bids – five from Danny Wallis, who bought Mitch and Mark’s house, one from buyers’ advocate Frank Valentic and six from buyers’ advocate Greville Pabst, who secured it with a $3.378 million bid on behalf of a Melbourne-based professional couple who plan to live there.

“I thought the two bookends would go for the most and I was surprised to see house two and even house three and four go for the numbers that they did,” Mr Pabst said.

“I was a bit worried going in because I thought that perhaps we might see a pass-in.

“That’s the strength of this Block brand, the fact that all five houses sold.”

Mr Pabst was also bidding on behalf of Aconex co-founder Rob Phillpot, for whom he bought both penthouses last year, but the tech entrepreneur did not win any of the auctions on Saturday.

Mr Valentic bought Andy and Deb’s house with a $3.42 million bid for investors who may use the home as a city residence in future, and were the underbidders on Courtney and Hans’ apartment in the Gatwick last year.

“We were rapt that we finally got one,” Mr Valentic said of his advocacy firm.

“Orders in the Block auctions are always crucial and I think going first is the worst position.

“We went nowhere near as high on the first one as the one we bought … You don’t want to be the idiot that pays top dollar and all the others sell for $500,000 less.”

El’ise and Matt’s house sold for $3.45 million, with bids placed by Sydney-based Glen Smith, buying on behalf of his Australian friends living overseas, who just missed out on house two.

“It’s a bit frustrating to miss out on that one in number two, but really happy with the result picking up this one for what I think’s a really good price when you consider number two,” he said.

The Block producers have lodged plans for next year’s season in New Street, Brighton. In what appears to be reminiscent of the 2017 season in Elsternwick, the production company has asked Bayside council for approval to relocate five old homes to what is currently a vacant block.