Following a two-year hiatus, the wildly popular Love It or List It Australia is back for a fifth season and once again along for the ride are beloved interior designer and property expert duo Neale Whitaker and Andrew Winter.
Speaking to Mediaweek ahead of the September 27 premiere on Foxtel, Whitaker explained that while he was “tempted” to say the instalment will be “more of the same”, he admitted that it “would not do the job.”
“I think this season has really taken the show up a few notches,” he said. “I think that the two-year break was good for all of us because I think we’ve come back with the strongest season yet. The quality of renovations and the quality of real estate is all next level.”
Andrew Winter and Neale Whitaker. Foxtel
The series’ fourth season was filmed in 2020 (with a 2021 release date) at the height of COVID and for the hosting pair, they were “facing a very different landscape”.
“COVID has left the world in a very changed place,” Whitaker said. “Real estate is much more volatile than it was. People don’t have the renovation budgets that maybe they had a few years ago. So, there were a lot of new built-in challenges that we hadn’t really had to face. So, I think the stakes were probably higher in this season than they’ve ever been before.”
When asked if it was something we should be “concerned” about when it comes to the housing market, he said that “it’s not something to be concerned about but it’s hard not to factor it in, because we’re all living with that at the moment.”
“All of us are living with the endless interest rate rises. We’re living with the fact that there are still delays to timelines on renovations. They are circumstances that we’ve inherited from COVID in the last few years. And realistically, they’re probably not going to change anytime soon. So, I think all of us are affected by it. If we’re in that game, if you’re planning to buy or sell or if you’re planning to renovate.”
“We never mentioned the word COVID [during the season]. But I mean, I guess it is the elephant in the room,” he added.
Foxtel
Neale Whitaker on the decisions people make of whether to “Love It or List It”
A huge component of the hit series sees couples questioning whether they love their place or whether they wish to list it for someone else to call their forever home.
When asked what people should be looking for when making these types of decisions in the real world, Whitaker said “There’s two entirely different questions there”.
“Let’s take renovate first. To renovate, at the moment, in particular, I think you have got to be very worried that it always comes down to budget. I mean, it’s frankly, plan plan and then plan again. And always make sure that you’ve got a bit more in the back pocket than you think you’re going to need because you will need it,” he said before adding: “At the moment, with things being a little bit volatile and prices changing, you just need to make sure you’ve got funds to do what you want to do. Different things apply if you’re renovating for yourself to live in the home or if you’re renovating for sale.”
He continued: “I always urge people — and I think Andrew would do the same — to take a look at other properties in a similar bracket. Other properties in your area that are going for the same price as you would hope to achieve. What have they got? What style are they? What have they got that you haven’t?”
Neale Whitaker. Nine
As for relocation, there’s also a lot to consider.
“In terms of relocation, which is a different thing entirely, think long and hard about social networks. Think about what the advantages are far from where you live now, and outweigh them with the possible advantages and disadvantages of moving to a new location. For a lot of people, there is the fear of moving to a new location which is taking them away from social networks, friends, family and support systems.”
Whitaker then used his and his partner, David’s home on the South Coast as a “perfect example”. While it is a little slice of heaven, it does have its own challenges.
“You [interviewer] mentioned at the beginning of this conversation about me living on the South Coast, living the dream. Yes, I am. But also, I have to be honest with you. Sometimes it can be a real headache living there too, hours away from Sydney when so much of my work requires me to be in Sydney. I spend a lot of time on the road.
“I was aware that would happen. So it’s not like that didn’t occur to me until I moved here. But that’s the kind of thing that you have to factor in, particularly at the moment when a lot of people are still dreaming about moving to the country, moving out of the city. You need to think about how your life is going to be impacted by that move.”
Love It Or List It Australia is produced by Beyond Productions, a Banijay Company exclusively for FOXTEL. Format created by Big Coat Productions and represented by Banijay Rights.