Scott Cam knows property well, having spent the last 40 years in the industry. But he has dire hopes for young Aussies wanting to buy their first home.
The 63-year-old tradie told Yahoo Lifestyle that his three adult children (left) are looking to buy their first home, which is an ongoing challenge.
(Instagram @scottycamofficial)
The Block host Scott Cam has shared his bleak view of Australia’s housing market, revealing his adult children are among the hordes of young Aussies struggling to buy their first home.
The 63-year-old told Yahoo Lifestyle that he and his wife, Ann, purchased their first property in Sydney’s inner suburb of Zetland in 1994 for $200,000.
The “beautiful little terrace” gave the young tradie and teacher their first step into the property market, with Nine reporting their portfolio is now worth up to $25 million.
But, as their adult children — Charlie, Bill and Sarah — try to buy homes of their own, Scott concluded the challenge is far greater.
“It’s really impossible from the beginning,” Scott said.
“You can’t buy anything now.”
Scott revealed that one of his sons had been pre-approved to borrow $800,000, but his borrowing capacity was significantly reduced after the 2026 Budget announcement.
“It’s really impossible from the beginning. You can’t buy anything now,” Scott said.
(Instagram @scottycamofficial/Channel 9)
“The budget was supposed to help young people, but the bank re-established his loan to $510,000.”
Scott said his son was aiming to buy a property for just under $ 1 million, but the reduced borrowing capacity had effectively put those plans on hold.
“That’s based on the negative gearing factor,” he added.
Major home renovation mistakes
While affordability remains a major concern, Scott said many Australians who do get into the market make costly mistakes when renovating.
The veteran builder said the biggest errors are underestimating both costs and timeframes.
“I think most of the time the mistake they make is their budget, and underestimating costs, therefore jobs don’t get finished,” he said.
Scotty Cam says the biggest renovation mistakes Australians make are underestimating both the budget and the timeline of a build
(Instagram @scottycamofficial/Getty)
“Underestimating the timeline as well is a big, big mistake. You’ve got to find the good trades and the right trades too.”
Scott also stressed the importance of organising a thorough pest inspection before signing a contract, particularly when buying older homes.
“Pest control is a really big one — it’s essential,” he said.
A building and pest inspection can identify issues including termite damage, infestations and structural problems before they become expensive surprises.
Scott recalled one renovation where termite damage had become so severe that an entire floor gave way beneath workers.
“Termites are the best engineers in the world; they won’t let anything collapse,” he said.
“I was at a job years ago at a two-storey home. There were two old ladies who lived there and they never went upstairs.
“We were up there, four men, and the floor collapsed. Every joist was full of termites, but it was just hanging on because nobody ever walked on it.
“It just gave way halfway. We didn’t fall down a storey, but we had to demolish the whole thing.”
Why Scott stepped outside comfort zone for new role
Away from building sites, Scott is currently starring in Channel 9’s new reality series Shark, which sees celebrities diving with sharks in open water.
The experience pushed him well beyond his comfort zone.
“I had a lot of anxiety the whole time when I was above the water, waiting to see what was going to happen,” he said.
“It was really intense.”
The celebrities got up close and personal with sharks up to 4.5 metres.
(Channel Nine)
Seeing sharks circling the boat before entering the water was particularly confronting.
“If you’re out in the water and there are 10 sharks around your boat, you’re never going to jump in — but we did,” he said.
Contestants gradually worked their way up from smaller sharks and stingrays before swimming alongside sharks measuring up to 4.5 metres long.
Scott admitted to feeling anxious on the boat rides out — especially before a night dive through a shipwreck where his torch lit only one metre in front of him.
But said once he was in the water, he was surprisingly calm.
“I was really perplexed by the whole thing. I was pretty calm, and sometimes we had 30 sharks around us,” Scott said.
Scott said Shark was a wild, high-stakes departure from his long-running work on The Block, and believes Australians will be “amazed” at what the cast acheived.
In the most recent episode Home and Away star Lynne McGranger suffered a medical emergency seven-metres underwater.
Shark! premiered on May 31 on Channel 9 and 9Now, and there are four episodes left.
There were delays in Perth, where the program was not broadcast after a 38-year-old father was killed in a shark attack off Rottnest Island.