Can Australia reach its 2029 housing construction target? Data shows we’re already falling behind

To hit the target we need about 240,000 new dwellings every year, and new data shows we are already falling behind. The most recent State of the Housing System report predicts we will fall short of the target by more than 260,000 homes, an even bigger miss than was predicted the year before.

I think I know what this is meant to say, but it sounds like we're building -20,000 homes a year.

Nygaard also questions whether the 1.2m dwellings target will significantly impact affordability. “The housing affordability challenges is the greatest for young and newly establishing households, for migrants, low and moderate income households, and First Nations Australians.

“These are also the households that are least likely to be able to compete for new supply.”

This is something that always bugged me about first home buyer grants. They have always had a requirement for new builds since that's what they're meant to encourage, but that also means huge swathes of the people that could most benefit from the grant (because the grant can make housing more affordable), can't take advantage of them (because new houses are out of reach).