In a devastating turn of events, Emma and Ben and Han and Can failed to sell their houses at The Block 2025 Auction.

Both teams decided to pass their homes in as it looked like offers weren’t hitting the reserve price.

With auctions done and dusted, what happens to the two houses now?
What’s next for House 1 and House 2? (Nine)

Negotiations begin immediately

The first step after the houses failed to meet the reserve price of $2,990,000 was to shift away from the dramatic stakes of a TV auction and turn to private negotiations.

In Emma and Ben’s case, their agents can re-engage with their highest bidder or any of their four registered unique buyers including Danny Wallis and a buyer named Ron they’d previously met.

These negotiations will occur behind closed doors and will allow both parties to reach a price that is above the reserve and acceptable to Emma and Ben

For Han and Can, this negotiation phase is likely to be much more difficult as they had no registered buyers and not a single bid was placed at their auction.

Go to open market

In the case that private negotiations fail, the houses will officially go onto the open real estate market just like any other property would.

The properties will be formally listed for sale and agents will work over days, weeks or even months to sell the homes using standard sale tactics like private inspections, open homes and price adjustments.

What prize money will they take home?

It’s really just a waiting game for Emma and Ben and Han and Can until their houses sell.

When the house eventually sell, each team will take home the difference between the reserve price of $2,990,000 and the amount the property sells for – no matter how high or low that amount is.

While there’s no telling what the houses will go for, the profit margin for contestants who fail to sell at auction is historically lower than those that sell on the night, considering their reserve is public knowledge.

What other Block houses have sold after auction?

This is not the first time a Block house (or two) hasn’t sold at auction.

In 2023, Leah and Ash decided to pass their house in as it looked like it might not hit reserve.

They eventually sold their Block house three months after it was passed in at auction.

Leah and Ash sold it to a family who planned to live in the house for $3.125 million, leaving them with a tidy profit of $155,000.

It also happened in 2022 when three houses failed to sell.

Rachel and Ryan passed in their house, but still managed to negotiate a sale with the highest bidder, Danny Wallis, outside the auction and secured a solid profit of $169,000.85.

Ankur and Sharon sold their Block property a few days after their 2023 auction for $4,250,000 meaning they made a profit of $170,000.

Queensland couple Dylan and Jenny didn’t sell their Block house until three months after their auction.

What happens when a property is ‘passed in’ at auction?

When a property up for auction is “passed in”, it means the top bid hasn’t met the reserve price yet.

Before any bids reach the reserve price, the vendor has the opportunity to ask the highest bidder to step out of the auction to carry out private negotiations.
Rachel and Ryan’s property passed in at the 2023 auction. (Nine)

Why is passing in a property so important?

Property is a dicey game and making the decision to pass a house in can be overwhelming.

But if played right it can work in favour of both the seller and the buyer.

During these negotiations, the bidder may offer more money than they did in the auction or the vendor make accept less money than they hoped.

More often than not, the results take the pressure out of the process and the result of these negotiations are that the two parties meet somewhere in the middle.