A new analysis suggests homes in England are less affordable and in worse conditions than in most other developed nations.

The Home Builders Federation – representing developers in England and Wales – has looked at data from the OECD, the EU and the UK government, and its finding say: 

– England’s severe shortage of housing has made it the most difficult place in the developed world to find a home, with the lowest rate of available properties per member of the population of all OECD nations;

– England has the highest proportion of inadequate housing in Europe, with 15 per cent of all existing homes not meeting the Decent Homes Standard and more substandard homes than Hungary, Poland and Lithuania; and

– The UK has some of the oldest housing stock in the developed world with only seven per cent of British homes built after 2001, far less than other countries like Spain, with 18.5, and Portugal with 16 per cent.

Boosting home ownership has been a key ambition for politicians, yet HBF’s research shows this is becoming increasingly unachievable for many as house prices continue to outstrip incomes.

Between 2004 and 2021 the UK’s rate of home ownership fell by six percentage points from 71 to 65 per cent. Over the same period, levels of home ownership grew by nearly 10 per cent in France and by 15 per cent in the Netherlands.

Despite manifesto commitments and repeated promises to boost numbers, the policy environment has slowed the delivery of new homes.

The UK remains a long way off delivering the Government’s target of 300,000 new homes per year by the mid-2020s, with only 233,000 new homes completed in 2021-22 and delivery in the first half of 2023 down by 10 per cent.

Analysis shows that record-breaking house building of 320,000 homes per year – nearly 100,000 more than current delivery – would be required for England to provide homes for its population in line with the benchmark for developed nations worldwide, the OECD.

Even just to reach the number of homes per thousand inhabitants of small European nations would require a significant increase in delivery. England would need to build 291,000 new homes every year until 2030 to reach the level of homes enjoyed by Belgium and 390,000 homes per year to be comparable to Denmark.

The average price of a property in England and Wales is more than eight times the average salary, making these – in the words of the HBF – “staggeringly unaffordable places to live.”

Even when looking at countries with similar reputations for unaffordable housing, the UK compares poorly, the analysis finds.

Denmark has one of the world’s most expensive and competitive property markets, with house prices rising faster than incomes in recent years, as shown by rapid growth of 12 per cent in the house price to income ratio between 2004 and 2021. However, this pales in comparison to England and Wales, where the ratio has grown by 37 per cent over the same period.

The UK has some of the oldest housing stock in the developed world. Even despite historically high levels of housebuilding over the past decade, only seven per cent of British homes were built after 2001, far less than other countries like Spain with 18.5 per cent, and Portugal with 16 per cent.

Even countries with smaller economies in Eastern Europe perform better than the UK. Hungary, for example, has one of the lowest average annual incomes in Europe and a GDP 17 times smaller than the UK, yet Hungarian houses are much more modern than British ones. Half of Hungarian homes were built after 1971, compared to only a third of the UK’s housing stock.

Homes in England are also of much poorer condition than in other developed countries, the analysis claims.

As of 2020, England had the highest proportion of inadequate housing in Europe, with 15 per cent of all homes not meeting the Decent Homes Standard, a measure set by the government which requires homes to be in a reasonable state of repair with reasonably modern facilities and services.

This means homes in England are in much worse condition than in Eastern European nations, including Lithuania, where 11 per cent of homes are substandard, and Poland, where only six per cent do not reach the required standard.