The Block 2023 winners: Steph and Gian win record $1.75m in shock auction finale

Fan favourites Steph and Gian have been crowned winners of The Block 2023, pocketing a history-making $1.75 million profit in a finale that delivered high-octane drama and shocking results for the contestants – some incredible and some devastating.

House 4, which had been tipped to take out the win since early on in the season, went to auction first and it took just three bids (and a shock pause after one of the registered bidders collapsed and fainted within minutes of the start) for Steph and Gian to take the mantle of the biggest Block sale in history.

Buyer Adrian “Mr Lambo” Portelli absolutely wiped the bidding floor, knocking out philanthropist Danny Wallis and buyer’s agent Frank Valentic with a $5 million bid – a $1 million increase on the previous bid.

The sale was a massive $1.65 million above their reserve of $3.35 million, netting Steph and Gian the win, and total prize money of $1,750,000 – including the $100,000 winners’ prize.

The Sydney-based couple smashed the previous record set only last year in Gisborne by Omar and Oz, who took home $1,686,666.66. Omar and Oz had also been first in the auction order.

The young Sydney couple were visibly shaking as they spoke with reporters immediately after the auction.

“We are lost for words,” Gian said. “That auction had everything.”

“I couldn’t even believe it,” Steph said tearfully. “When we got $ 4 million we were so happy and then Adrian came in at $5 million. He’s incredible. We have no words, we are so, so grateful. The Block has changed our lives.”

It was decided Steph and Gian would go first in the auction order after a very long and heated debate between the contestants on Friday. The logic was that their result – which was predicted to be strong based on feedback from buyers – would set a high benchmark for the day that would have a flow-on effect on the other houses.

And for the next auction, it came to pass. First-time renovators and loveable Melbourne sisters Eliza and Liberty shocked many, themselves included, when their home was knocked down to Portelli for $4.3 million – $1.05 million above their $3.25 million reserve.

But the bigger shock was how House 5 won, with Portelli bidding against himself three times to land the property.

Selling agent Nick Renna of Jellis Craig Brighton said it was one of the strangest auctions he’d ever done – and Portelli admitted afterwards he “didn’t know” why he did it.

“Everyone went a bit quiet, so I think I was trying to rev them up a bit,” he said.

The Block 2023 auctions still had more massive shocks in store – but unfortunately for the remaining contestants, they were not of the same million-dollar-plus profit variety.

Kristy and Brett’s House 3 was next to auction but Portelli’s earlier “rev up” failed to materialise and the couple walked away distraught and furious, with a comparatively meagre $65,000.

Unlike Steph and Gian and Eliza and Liberty’s auctions, there was no massive first bid that secured them a hefty profit straight up; instead, it started with an opening bid of just $2.75 million – $220,000 under their reserve of $2.97 million.

Danny Wallis made a couple of early bids then dropped out; Adrian Portelli did not make a single bid for their house.

After a long and tense exchange between two main bidders, the hammer fell at $3.035 million. The property was bought by a local Brighton family as an investment.

Kristy later blamed her agent for the tepid auction, telling reporters he had “shit the bed” and changed strategy. She also claimed Adrian Portelli was not honouring his “word” from earlier in the season when he had chosen their house as the best during the Domain Listings Challenge. And she also blamed the media for targeting them as the season’s villains.

Third place went to season underdogs and Perth couple Kyle and Lesley of House 1, whose auction was held immediately after Kristy and Brett’s shock result.

Their house, which had copped the most criticism from the judges during the show’s season, sold for $3.1 million – $130,000 over its reserve price of $2.97 million.

Brisbane serial renovators Leah and Ash, of House 2, were last to go under the hammer. Unfortunately one of their registered bidders, who had made it known that House 2 was her favourite, was the young woman who collapsed during Steph and Gian’s auction. She missed Leah and Ash’s auction.

After watching how their two neighbours’ auctions had played out, Leah and Ash decided to pass the property in after the first bid from buyer’s advocate Frank Valentic of $2.9 million went uncontested.

They later told reporters they could feel the disinterest in their property.

“It was $2.9 [million] and then it felt really slow,” Leah said. “You can see it in Danny’s face and you can also see it in Adrian’s face when they lose complete interest.

Gallery: The Block 2023 – All the action from the auctions

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“It was easy for us … we called our agent; he was so respectful. He didn’t go out back out there and, you know, do the whole ego bid. I said not $1 more and he goes ‘copy that’ and that’s exactly what he did.”

Despite mixed results for the contestants, the auctions performed well relative to the rest of Melbourne’s auction market on Saturday, although only 281 auctions were scheduled due to the Melbourne Cup long weekend. Domain Group recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 59.8 per cent from 189 reported results, while 26 auctions were withdrawn. Withdrawn auctions are counted as unsold properties when calculating the clearance rate.

With four out of the five Charming Street homes selling under the hammer, that translates to an 80 per cent clearance rate.

Valentic ended up walking away empty-handed, as did Danny Wallis, but because Valentic made the only bid on Leah and Ash’s house, he has the first right to negotiate with them. It is understood a a deal is yet to be inked.

Valentic told Domain the right houses had made the most money.

“All along, I said House 4 or House 5, even before we showed buyers through, because they were north-facing orientations,” he said.

“They had the largest land sizes and were positioned in a better part of the street. That theory was supported by the buyers when we started taking them through … they were definitely the standouts.”

He said any of the drama that had played out between the contestants during the series had absolutely nothing to do with the auction results on the day.

“I’ve been a buyer’s agent for 23 years and I know my buyers look for north-facing,” he said. “They want good floor plans, they want functionality. These houses [Houses 4 and 5] were family-friendly because they had really big living zones, the big family meals areas.

“From the feedback, Houses 1, 2 and 3 didn’t have that same wow factor And, obviously they’re going to be disappointed with their results versus … what Houses 4 and 5 got, but that’s the market.”

A frustrated Danny Wallis told Domain as he left Charming Street yesterday that Houses 4 and 5 had sold for too much money, and that he didn’t bid higher for the other three houses because “they’re junk”.

Eliza and Liberty revealed after their auction that they planned to spend some of their $1 million-plus winnings on a holiday with their friends and Block neighbours Steph and Gian.

They had talked previously about possibly buying properties in the same street as each other if they won any money this season, but the shock of how much they actually made was going to take some time to process, Eliza said.

“We didn’t even contemplate how we would spend that kind of money because we never even thought it would be a thing for us,” she said.