The Block 2022: Omar and Oz crowned winners with a record-breaking $1,686,666.66 in prize money, three houses fail to sell at auction

In a finale of mind-blowing highs and devastating lows, Sydneysiders Omar Slaimankhel and Osman “Oz” Said have won The Block 2022 with the most prize money awarded in the show’s 19-year history.

Omar and Oz’s house was the first up for auction and sold for $5,666,666.66 – a whopping $1,586,666.66 over the property’s reserve of $4.08 million.

The former rugby player and building maintenance man from Western Sydney pocketed the $1,586,666.66 from the sale of House 5 plus the $100,000 winner’s prize for a total of $1,686,666.66. It is $620,666.66 more than previous record-holders Jimmy and Tam Wilkins, who nabbed $1.066 million in 2020.

All five properties had an auction reserve of $4.08 million and were advertised with a price guide of $4 million to $4.4 million. But the first auction of the day did not set the stage for what was to come.

Melbourne locals Tom Calleja and Sarah-Jane Wilson from House 1 were second off the rank with a sale of $4,100,000.99. They netted $20,000.99 in prize money despite winning the most room reveals this season and selecting the auction order.

The reality of a volatile property market hit the reality show this year, with the remaining three houses failing to sell at auction and their final bids falling short of the reserve.

Rachel and Ryan Carr’s House 2 passed in after bidding stalled at $4.05 million, Sharon Johal and Ankur Dogra’s House 3 at $4.075 million and Dylan Adams and Jenny Heath’s at $4.075 million.

Melbourne philanthropist and serial Block buyer since 2012 Danny Wallis was in amongst the action, snapping up Omar and Oz’s House 5 and Tom and Sarah-Jane’s House 1.

However, there was a silver lining for Rachel and Ryan in the minutes that followed their auction. Wallis was the highest bidder for House 2, and inevitably bought the home after 15 minutes of post-auction negotiations. The property sold for $4,249,000.50, rewarding the Sydney couple with $169,000.50 in prize money.

Gallery: Past winners of The Block and their prize money

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At the time of publishing this article, Dylan and Jenny’s House 4 remained under negotiation with buyer’s advocate Frank Valentic, who had the highest bid before the property was passed in. Domain understands that House 3’s sale is still under negotiation.

Domain Group recorded a preliminary Melbourne weekend auction clearance rate of 61.1 per cent and 672 reported auction listings. This was lower than last season’s auction date, which recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 71.1 per cent and 812 reported auction listings.

The auction came after the Domain House Price Report for the September quarter revealed the fastest decline in national property prices on record. Melbourne house prices recorded a quarterly decline of 4.4 per cent.

Here’s how each auction unfolded:

House 5: Omar & Oz

All five couples were in agreement: you just don’t know what to expect from auction day. But no one quite expected the self-proclaimed “underdogs” to blow the competition out of the water.

“We knew from the get-go we were going first. We were the underdogs from start to finish,” Oz told Domain. “If I was Tom and Sarah, yeah, I would have put our house first, just to set the tone, and we definitely set the tone beyond the benchmark, so we’re more than happy with that.”

Wallis faced stiff competition from buyer’s advocate Frank Valentic and third bidder Adrian Portelli. An opening bid of $3.85 million from Valentic was rejected by auctioneer Tom Panos, but Portelli quickly upped the ante with a strong bid of $4.5 million.

Valentic placed a single bid of $4.51 million before letting Portelli and Wallis battle it out. After a flurry of bidding, Wallis came out on top at $5,666,666.66.

“Nothing is better than having two titans want your house, and Danny [Wallis] being one of them, we know once he’s in he’s not pulling out,” Omar said. “We’re just so thankful that he and Adrian [Portelli] really wanted that house and got us exactly where we are now.”

Selling agent Aaron Hill of Ray White Sunbury, alongside auctioneer Tom Panos, played Wallis’ game in order to create a bidding frenzy.

“We had those two buyers fight it out, but Danny wanted to be The Block king – and he still is,” Hill said. “We mentioned in the auctions that there was a ‘new Block king out there’ and Danny didn’t like it. And so it was a fight for the end.”

It was a day of mixed emotions for Omar and Oz, and despite their big win, they remained humble throughout the other teams’ auctions.

When asked what they were doing with their prize money, Oz said: “We’re definitely going to split it – straight to the family to start up something. We had nothing, so this will definitely really help us to go somewhere … to set them up, it’s all for them.”

House 1: Tom & Sarah-Jane

Tom and Sarah-Jane, the favourites this season, were up next. After such a staggering result for House 5, hopes were high among the contestants that the next property would again see strong bidding.

Buyer’s advocates Nicole Jacobs and Andrew Date were in the room, along with Wallis and Valentic. But it was a slow start, after Valentic made an opening bid of $3.8 million and Jacobs followed with a $4 million offer. A couple of other bids trickled in with Jacobs making a follow-up offer of $4.075 million, but the home was not on the market.

With auctioneer David Wood searching for more interest, Wallis made his first bid on House 1 of $4,100,000.99.

After several discussions, Jacobs bowed out, as did Valentic and the property was sold to Wallis, his second purchase of the day. It sold for $20,000.99 over the reserve.

To go from such a high amount over reserve for House 5 to such a small amount left many of the contestants in shock.

“I’m devastated with $20,000 but that’s so outweighed by the experience, the opportunity … it’s been a ball,” Sarah-Jane said after the auction.

“We didn’t have those two buyers in the room, but I thought [Omar and Oz’s auction] set a really good tone. I was hoping it meant we could get $100,000 to $200,000 but that wasn’t in our future.

“You know the risks coming into it … I’m not ashamed or embarrassed. We worked our asses off [and] had the best time ever. If I made $20,000, well that’s $20,000 more than I had yesterday.”

Auctioneer David Wood said they were buoyed by the result that House 5 got. “I didn’t think we were going to better it, but we were always going to try. I thought if we could get significantly more than what we did, it was going to be better for our contestants, but that wasn’t the way it panned out.”

House 2: Rachel & Ryan

After two very different auction results, Rachel and Ryan did not know what to expect.

“We’re in a bit of shock – we’ve just come from the highest of highs in the first auction to the lowest of lows in the second auction,” Rachel said.

Auctioneer and co-listing agent Marty Fox of WHITEFOX Real Estate – alongside McQueen Real Estate’s Kim McQueen – rejected a low-ball opening bid from Valentic of $3.85 million. Valentic followed up with a bid $3.95 million which was accepted.

Soon enough, bidding picked up the pace, with Valentic offering $4.05 million and Wallis adding a signature cent-based bid, bringing it to $4,050,000.50.

Bidding stalled $29,000.50 short of the reserve, with Fox passing in the property and calling Wallis aside for negotiations. The property sold after negotiations for $4,249,000.50, $169,000.50 over the reserve.

Passing in the property before hitting the reserve was all a part of the strategy.

“The way that our auction started going,” Rachel said. “We just knew straight away – pull the pin, let’s pass it in, let’s take everyone out of the room and let’s just have a private conversation and try and get some more money.”

Fox said he knew that the first auction was “completely crazy”.

“I had that in my gut,” he said. “I felt that it was an anomaly once it had occurred. Once we saw what had occurred with House 5, we realised how important it was to protect what that reserve was.

Fox ensured that bidding remained under the reserve to secure more money in post-auction negotiations with Wallis, protecting the contestants and unlocking more prize money.

What made negotiations easier was Fox and McQueen forfeiting their agent commission to a charity of the buyer’s choice. “There was that gratitude towards what we were doing, and it helped with negotiations,” Fox said.

House 3: Sharon & Ankur

It was the largest house to be built in the history of The Block, and the home that attracted the most drama throughout the season. However, House 3 could not attract a bid from The Block’s biggest buyer, Danny Wallis.

Valentic, Jacobs and a mystery buyer, with the help of their own buyer’s advocate, were left to compete for the property. An opening bid of $3.5 million kicked things off, and it quickly rose to $4.05 million after bidding by the three buyer’s advocates.

The mystery buyer made a final bid of $4.075 million before auctioneer Paul Tzamalis passed in the property for negotiation.

Domain understands that negotiations are still underway at the time of publishing this article. Selling agent Sean Parker from Macedon Ranges Sotheby’s International Realty declined to comment on details.

House 4: Dylan & Jenny

The mood was sombre come time for the final auction of the day.

An opening bid of $3,333,000.33 was made by Wallis, but was swiftly knocked back by auctioneer Damien Cooley, describing the bid as not respectable. It was the start of a tense exchange between Wallis and Cooley, with Wallis turning his back.

“I won’t be disrespectful so I’ll bow out,” Wallis said after being rejected.

It was then left to Valentic and Jacobs, with Valentic placing the final bid of $4.075 million before the property was passed in just $5000 shy of the reserve.

The selling agent, TCC Real Estate’s Kirrily Evans, confirmed negotiations were still underway with Valentic’s buyer at the time of publishing this article.

“Hopefully from tonight, with the show being aired, people realise that some of these properties didn’t sell and that there is an opportunity for them now to approach us to organise inspections,” she said.

Valentic’s Melbourne buyer is considering the property for its investment potential. He believes the price paid for House 5 was well above market value.

The Block airs on Nine, a majority owner of Domain.