Another Block home is listed for far less than Portelli paid.

From $3.3 million to a $1.7–$1.85 million guide

House 2 from The Block’s 2024 Phillip Island season has reappeared on the market with a guide of $1.7 million to $1.85 million — roughly $1.5 million below what billionaire Adrian Portelli paid at auction in 2024.

That’s quite a big difference.

The four-bedroom house at 2/113-119 Justice Road, Cowes, was sold to Mr Portelli for $3.3 million at the 2024 auction after a hot bidding battle. The home comes fully furnished, with two main suites, a pool, an outdoor kitchen and a fire pit — features the listing agent says represent high-end finishing that first appeared on the show.

The current owner, who holds the title, is trying to sell the fully furnished home quickly, the agent said.

Camille Morris, sales agent at Stockdale and Leggo Phillip Island, described the House 2 listing as offering "a lot for your money" and said much of the heavy lifting — the furniture and the appliances — is included. "It was over-capitalised initially as part of The Block," Ms Morris said.

How the property moved from auction to giveaway to resale

Adrian Portelli bought all five houses on The Block in 2024, paying a combined $15.03 million for the lot. He paid $3.5 million for House 1 — the season winners Maddy Harry and Charlotte Harry’s home — and $3.3 million for House 2, purchased from the McInnes–Freeman team after a competitive auction.

Portelli then listed the five properties as a compound months later and ultimately offered them as prizes through his subscription service, LMCT+, alongside a cash incentive. One winner chose the cash option; the houses were given away to others in November 2024.

Ms Morris said the market had to reckon with the fact Portelli had bid aggressively during the televised auctions. "Obviously Adrian did overpay, and that was prevalent in the last Block season in Daylesford — without having him around, that’s what happens [when Portelli doesn’t bid]," she said.

Ray White Phillip Island sales agent Yvette Tancheff, who sold one of the Block homes to Portelli at the 2024 auction, told reporters the first auction for House 2 was highly competitive. "We had a really good auction, we had genuine buyers who were bidding hard against Adrian Portelli," Ms Tancheff said. "It was Block-mania."

Mastheads

Auction fever and pricing headaches

Producers and agents have long accepted that televised renovation shows can distort price expectations. Contest houses often feature premium finishes, bespoke furniture packages and appliances that add to their on-screen allure — and to buyers’ perceived value.

Camille Morris said the House 2 build had been "extremely difficult to price" because there were few comparable sales on Phillip Island; in other words, there wasn’t a neat line of local transactions to say what a buyer should pay once the television glare was gone.

Ms Morris also argued the fit-out alone might be worth more than the current guide suggests. "The finishes, the appliances, the furniture, the quality is probably worth more than what we listed," she said. Yet she added that Portelli’s high auction bids had pushed headline prices above what the steady market could support.

That tension shows up in the numbers. When Portelli bought all five homes in 2024 the market was different; by the time the properties were offered as individual resales or a compound, the immediate pool of Block-driven buyers was smaller. One buyer who bought a Block home at auction in 2024 reported facing competition from buyers including IT entrepreneur Danny Wallis and cafe chain owner Jacob Najjar — both named bidders at the original sale.

What the smaller guide means for sellers and buyers

For vendors, a lower guide can be a pragmatic move: keep the property moving and avoid extended holding costs. For buyers, the current listing provides an opportunity to pick up a turnkey, high-spec home in an amenity-rich setting without the contest-driven premium.

Stockdale and Leggo’s Ms Morris called the turn-key package "too good to refuse" for buyers who want a finished home — but she also warned sellers of the risk of overpricing once the television premium fades.

Right now, ray White’s Ms Tancheff, reflecting on the auction at the time, said the energy at the 2024 sale skewed results. "We had genuine buyers who were bidding hard against Adrian Portelli," she said. That pressure lifted sale prices above many reserve guides; in House 2’s case, $3.3 million wiped out the reserve by a large margin.

Meanwhile, the broader Melbourne market had weaker momentum around those auctions. Nine Melbourne recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 61.2 per cent from 1,372 listed auctions in one reporting week, showing there was still demand but not a runaway boom across the board.

Where this fits in Portelli’s playbook

Adrian Portelli, listed as a Young Rich Lister with a net worth of about $1.295 billion after founding LMCT+, has used televised auctions to buy multiple Block houses in recent seasons. He then experimented with listing the homes as a group and offering them as part of LMCT+ promotions, including an offer that paired the homes with $8 million in cash — a prize some members could win.

Portelli’s approach changes the usual pattern of developer or investor buys. Rather than holding the homes as long-term investment stock, he has moved quickly through buying, listing and even giving them away as promotional prizes. That cycle created headlines in its own right — and shaped the pricing conversation for the properties involved.

Still, local agents say the gap between auction headline prices and what buyers will pay in a normal private sale can be wide.

One-sentence paragraph for impact.

House 2’s new guide is the clearest evidence yet: the TV premium can evaporate fast.

That’s a concrete detail the market can price in — now.

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Camille Morris, sales agent at Stockdale and Leggo Phillip Island, said the property had been "extremely difficult to price" because there were few comparable sales.

This article was created with AI assistance.