The Block NZ

 

PHOTO: DAVID WHITE/HOMED The completed Firehouse building now houses five apartments. Apartment 5 on the lower level, which has not been sold, was not part of the competition.

After The Block NZ: Firehouse fizzled to a close last Sunday, New Zealand asked: Isn’t it time the show moved out of Auckland? To shake things up, to showcase a different slice of the Kiwi property market, and to give contestants a chance to make some money.

When the show began eight years ago, its contestants had a buyer’s market. By season 4, arguably at the height of the show’s popularity, all the teams walked away with at least $100,000.

The winning team is whoever sells their property for the highest amount above their reserve, which they can only guess at until auction night. In 2016, Sam Cable and Emmett Vallender won a record-breaking $480,000 in total – a far cry from the profits on subsequent series.

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