England has the lowest number of houses available in the developed world, and the highest rate of inadequate housing in Europe(15%)
Analysis from the Home Builders Federation has found that English housing is the worst in Europe for those seeking a home, with the lowest rates of available properties compared to its population of all OECD members, the benchmark for developed nations worldwide.
Existing English homes are also in the worst condition of all European countries, with 15% failing required quality standards – significantly worse than poorer Eastern European nations such as Lithuania, where 11% of homes are substandard, and Poland, where only 6% do not reach the required standard.
The Housing Horizons report used data collated from the OECD, the European Union, and the UK Government.
The UK has some of the oldest housing stock in the developed world
Only 7% of British homes were built after 2001, compared to countries like Spain’s 18.5%, and Portugal, with 16%.
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, and half were built after 1971 (compared to a third of the UK’s housing stock).
The overall greater age of UK housing means there are many houses that are not energy efficient or not even safe to reside in.
As of 2020, 15% of UK homes did not meet 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. The low quality and high prices of English housing are key contributors to UK housing stock being the worst in Europe.
Much-needed new housing is not being delivered
The Government’s target of 300,000 new homes per year by the mid-2020s seems further away than ever, as only 233,000 new homes were completed in 2021-22, and delivery in the first half of 2023 fell by 10%.
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 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.
Despite manifesto commitments and repeated promises to boost numbers, the policy environment has slowed the delivery of new homes.
The report found that the impact of the turbulent economy on people’s ability to buy and an increasingly anti-development approach to housing policy are resulting in supply falling sharply.
Planning consents, a strong indicator of what will be built in the coming years, fell by 19% during the first six months of 2023 as compared to the same period last year.
13.3m people in the UK are spending over 40% of their post tax income on housing
One in five people in Britain spend more than 40% of their post-tax income on housing- more than anywhere else in Europe.
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% 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% over the same period.
Between 2004 and 2021, the UK’s rate of home ownership fell by six percentage points from 71% to 65%. Over the same period, levels of home ownership grew by nearly 10 percentage points in France and by 15 percentage points in the Netherlands.
The average price of a property in England and Wales is more than eight times the average salary, making these staggeringly unaffordable places to live.
English housing being the worst in Europe shows need for political action
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. Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, said:
“It is widely acknowledged that Britain’s housing is in crisis, but this research shows just how badly we are falling behind our international peers.
“Decades of housing undersupply has produced startling consequences for people up and down the country looking for a decent home.
“Home builders want to be able to deliver new, high quality, energy efficient homes which will help solve our country’s housing crisis, and they expanded investment over the past decade. Sadly, developers are still too often hampered by a restrictive planning system, an anti-development mindset and short-term politics trumping the needs of communities.
“The country is in dire need of more high quality and energy efficient new homes. With an election looming and manifestos being considered, today’s research should act as a wake-up call, demonstrating the urgent need to act now to prevent us from falling even further behind.”
You can read the Housing Horizons report in full here.
