The Block 2026 Mount Eliza season has wrapped filming, but the show's future hangs in the balance as unsold homes from the previous season linger. The luxury homes built on The Block could still be sitting on the market when the new series premieres, exposing an awkward real-world test for the renovation juggernaut. This raises a deeper question: Can The Block maintain its prestige and credibility in a market where buyer expectations are already running high?
The Mount Eliza location and expected contestant line-up were first reported by News Corp Australia, with the Mornington Peninsula season shaping as one of the show’s highest-stakes campaigns in years. The show's $11m investment in the location gives it genuine Port Phillip Bay views and access to one of the Mornington Peninsula’s best-known family markets. However, the expected $5m price hopes would put the Mount Eliza homes at about three times the suburb’s median house price, with PropTrack data showing the area had a $1.65m median for the year to January 2026.
One insider familiar with the Mount Eliza project claimed the new homes risked becoming “one of the biggest misreads of a market The Block has ever made”. The insider said, 'They’ve completely missed what buyers actually want in Mount Eliza. This looks like Brighton has been dumped in Mount Eliza. They’re monoliths, not Peninsula homes.'
The Mount Eliza homes have already split property insiders before hitting the market. Early Nine promo material showed sleek white luxury homes, but newer renders and construction images pointed to darker cladding, timber-style finishes, stone features and heavier landscaping. M R Advocacy director and buyers’ agent Madeleine Roberts warned the way the homes appeared to sit on the land could be a “red flag” for prestige buyers.
The Block host Scott Cam returns for the Mount Eliza season, where Channel 9 is hoping to avoid another awkward auction result after Daylesford. Block judge and Whitefox director Marty Fox has praised the Mount Eliza location for its genuine ocean views, but buyer expectations are already running high.
The expected 2026 line-up includes South Australian pastoral pair Jolene and Adam Wagner, Western Australians Rosco Wilson and Lisa Dunbar, Brisbane renovators Courtney Kain and Sevilay Keser, Gold Coast couple Chantel Green and Wyatt Randall, and Victorian father-daughter team Tayla and Rick Peroomal. Western Australian pair Rosco Wilson and Lisa Dunbar bring owner-builder experience to the new Block season as the show returns to prestige property.
The Mount Eliza season also sparked early speculation after a huge shed-like structure began rising on the site. Some locals believed Bunnings was building a private warehouse for contestants. A source close to production confirmed the structure would operate as both an on-site Bunnings hub and a filming studio, hosting room reveals and challenges while giving production a dedicated base for sets, scoring and logistics.
With filming complete, attention now shifts to the sales campaign. The homes will need to win over prestige buyers in a market where land, privacy and lifestyle appeal matter as much as marble benchtops and designer bathrooms. If Cedar Lane homes remain on the market when the Mount Eliza season begins, the show could face one of its most awkward commercial backdrops yet.
The Block’s 2025 Daylesford season has become a warning for the incoming Mount Eliza builds. Han and Can’s house at 4 Cedar Lane is now listed at $2.59m, while Emma and Ben’s home at No. 5 is priced at $2.6m after both failed to sell under the hammer at the finale. Sonny and Alicia’s 2 Cedar Lane home, which sold for $3.06m at the finale, has also returned to the market with a $2.9m-$3m guide.
Ray White Sunbury agent Aaron Hill, who is selling Emma and Ben’s 5 Cedar Lane home, said inquiry had increased since the price shifted down from closer to $2.9m. He said, 'We are definitely getting more calls on it now than we were when it was closer to $2.9m. The challenge is that some of that interest is still because it is a Block home.'
Mr Hill said many buyers were still circling in the lower-$2m bracket. Belle Property Daylesford agent Will Walton, who is selling Han and Can’s 4 Cedar Lane home, said the Daylesford houses had to be understood as part of a small regional prestige market rather than a Melbourne auction market.
