Sydney re-embraces its passion for The Block as (South) Melbourne swan song series kicks off with bigger numbers

With Sydney almost back in love with property, The Block, Channel 9’s reality property series, returned to the airways last night with a stronger following than last year’s Melbourne series.

The first-night ratings – with the four derelict terraces in South Melbourne barely sighted – attracted an average 1.4 million viewers, bettering last year’s 1,342,000 debut viewers of the Richmond renovation.

Ten’s juggernaut MasterChef doesn’t start for another two weeks, so The Block began without serious opposition. The competition came internally with eight couples desperate to move in – and in the first week being paired off and pitted against each other in a 24-hour, do-or-die room fit-out challenge at a quaint red-painted Melbourne residence.

It was not however the four unrenovated terraces which the production company spent some some $3.8 million in Dorcas Street, South Melbourne last year.

The next series of The Block seems set to return home to Sydney, as the production company has recently bought four single-level semis at Bondi, close to the southern end of the coastal strip.

The hush-hush purchase, which echoes its previous property acquisitions of four adjacent properties, has possibly cost $4.4 million or more. Each of the three-bedroom semis (pictured below) sits on a 260-square-metre holding.

The 2012 opening night of The Block recorded a peak of 1.9 million viewers within the hour, compared with 1,723,000 viewers in last year’s opening hour.

It was the night’s second most watched program – behind The Voice talent show, with 2.5 million.

Last year the keener watchers were in Melbourne, with 523,000 viewers compared with Sydney’s 365,000 viewers. Last night there was less of a gap, with Melbourne on 508, 000 and Sydney at 404,000. The 1.4 million mix was made up by 259,000 Brisbane viewers, 116,000 in Adelaide and 118,000 in Perth.

The first season of The Block was filmed in Bondi in 2003, with 2.2 million watching weekly – and the auction finale episode attracted 3.1 million viewers, which was the second-most watched event of 2003.

Its 2003 first series coincided with the peak of the property boom along the east coast Sydney property market.