Melbourne tunes in to property TV

Melbourne loves its property television shows more than Sydney. 

This was evidenced again with the return of Michael Caton’s Channel 9 television series Hot Property.

Hot Property attracted 357,000 Melbourne viewers, compared with 266,000 Sydney viewers.

Hot Property sat in the eighth spot for the night, with 898,000 national viewers watching auctions unfold in Brunswick in Melbourne and Kellyville in Sydney.

But it appears the viewers like renovation dramas even more, with the fourth night of The Block sitting in third place in Thursday night’s ratings with an audience of 1.13 million.

It was a slight jump on the 1.11 million on Tuesday and Wednesday nights for The Block, which premiered with 1.34 million on Monday night.

Part of the reason for Melbourne’s higher ratings is that The Block is set in Melbourne this year, the first time in its four series that it has been based outside Sydney.

“Hot Property looks at the highs and lows, the elation, the success and the disappointment of the real estate game,” Caton says.

The first episode featured a Brunswick unit that sold for $386,000 through Barry Plant, having been bought for $237,000 in 2007.

It was in a block of eight, all sold at the same time in 2007, and the new owners formed close friendships.

At Kellyville there were hopes of $800,000 for the single-story house, which sold post-auction for $785,000 through  Gilmour & Orley Real Estate.