
How many homes does the UK need?
Think tank: Centre for Policy Studies
Author(s): Ben Hopkinson
July 1, 2025
This report from UK think tank the Centre for Policy Studies reveals that the UK has a shortage of 6.5 million homes when compared to similar European countries.
Decades of lacklustre housebuilding and recent record migration have left the UK with a shortfall of more than 6.5 million homes, according to new research from the Centre for Policy Studies that reveals the devastating scale of Britain’s housing failure. The debut research by Ben Hopkinson, the CPS’ new Head of Housing and Infrastructure, shows how the UK has fallen dramatically behind comparable European countries, with British families paying the price through unaffordable homes.
‘How Many Homes Does the UK Need?’ reveals that if England had matched France’s housebuilding rate since 1982, we would have built 2.9 million more homes. England’s housing stock grew over those years by 0.8% per year, compared to France’s 1.1%.
The economic impact is stark. The research shows the median London worker earns 17% more than the median UK worker, but once rent is factored in, they are actually 3% worse off. Workers across the country are being priced out of productive areas where they could earn higher salaries, hampering economic growth and innovation.
The analysis also evaluates the impact of the recent wave of mass migration. In the years 2021-2023, the peak of the recent migration wave, the number of homes per capita actually fell in England despite our expanding the housing stock by 470,000 homes, as record-high migration lowered the number of homes per head. Yet we also show that if net migration had been kept to the tens of thousands since 1997, the housing gap would only be a third lower than its current level.
The research finds that on recent trends, the UK will not reach the current European average of 542 homes per 1,000 people until 2115. This trajectory condemns future generations to increasingly unaffordable housing and reduced living standards.