Burke's final 'hooroo' may signal the end of property infatuation

WHEN HOME improvement guru and television icon Don Burke signed off in Sydney last November with his trademark 'hooroo' (Australian for goodbye), it marked more than just the final episode of one of the nation's best-loved TV shows.

It seemed hard to fathom that falling ratings had caused the demise of Burke's Backyard, a programme that saluted the hallowed turf of Australians' backyards, where even the opening jingle (the cheery 'give me a home among the gum trees...') spoke volumes. Then it was revealed that ratings for other property-related lifestyle shows had also gone off like a bucket of prawns in the sun.

At the same time, real estate prices that homeowners had so gleefully watched soar over the previous few years had come to a grinding halt. Crikey, was the infatuation with property over? Could the fact that audiences no longer swarm to renovation shows like blowies to a barbie also signal an end to the great Australian dream - home ownership?

Melbourne television critic Ross Warneke believes there is a connection, with some 'previously unbeatable' property-related shows losing up to 30 per cent of their audience last year.

'It may have something to do with the halt to the property boom. At least, that's the theory,' Warneke wrote in his column in The Age. 'Infotainment shows, particularly those related to property improvement, such as The Block, Backyard Blitz and Hot Auctions, were big when real estate values were booming. Now the boom is over, those shows have lost their ratings allure.'

Paul Braddick, senior economist at ANZ Bank disagreed.

The home fires had not burnt out, he said, 'they are just not burning as unsustainably high as they were in 2003'.