Courtney and Sev have been crowned the winners of The Block 2026.
After the gruelling 12-week renovation and nail-biting auction, the best friends pocketed the winning sale with a record-breaking $1.87 million profit.
All five homes were listed with a $3.45 million reserve. Rick and Tayla’s home was listed at $3.5 million, but $50,000 was knocked off for their week 12 win, bringing them to the same cost as their rivals.
The eye-watering reserves were a steep increase from last year’s $2.99 million reserve price, raising fears of more unsold houses.
However, all five teams managed to sell their homes this year, taking home life-changing profits.
Courtney and Sev scored a winning bid of $4.72 million, marking a profit of $1.27 million in a Block first.
Despite a difficult journey on the show, Rick and Tayla followed closely behind in second place with a $4.355 million sale and $905,000 in profits.
Lisa and Rosco came in third, walking away with $550,000 from their $4 million sale.
Then followed Adam and Jolene with a $3.905 million sale and a $455,000 profit, while Chantel and Wyatt came in fifth place with $367,000 in profits from a $3.817 million sale.
Courtney and Sev had been clear favourites to win the 2026 series, winning an impressive six room reveals.
The eye-watering reserve prices were a huge increase from the 2025 series, with Lisa and Rosco’s auctioneer, Mark Nunn, telling New Idea that the prime location and sea views racked up the reserves this year.
“These properties represent really, really good value with the views of the ocean,” he exclusively told us.
“They’ve got elevators in them. They’re extremely high-end homes, great locations. The first season The Block’s ever had of ocean views, so it’s a really big drawcard.”
Matt Jackson, the CEO of David Reid Homes, added that coastal homes with picturesque views usually add between 20 per cent and 25 per cent to a property’s standard value.
The reserve prices were announced before the auction for the first time due to a new Victorian law change.
The auction order caused huge tensions among the cast, with some teams feeling unfairly done by.
Chantel argued that the “better” houses should go last, while Courtney said they didn’t want to end up as the last house at auction.
Lisa fumed that she was being “sick of being stepped on” as the teams struggled to come to an amicable solution.
Of course, the team that goes first has buyers with their full bidding power intact, before committing funds to any other homes.
However, other buyers might prefer to sit back and see how the auction transpires before deciding on a home.
While a numerical order was originally decided on, Chantel and Wyatt ended up swapping with Courtney and Sev, moving from 2nd place to 4th after advice from their real estate agent Quentin McEwing.
Quentin advised them to swap because House Four would encourage larger sales for the following homes, which proved to be a good tactic.
After 2025’s disastrous auction, which left two houses unsold, the teams were concerned they might walk away with nothing.
However, it was a year of landslide success for all the teams, who walked away with life-changing profits.
