This data shows England’s ‘affordable housing gap’ has widened to 173%, with delivery potentially being outpaced 12 to one.

Search Acumen has calculated this presents a potential shortfall of 296,606 homes based on the most recent data from 2024.

At the same time, the rise of economically inactive individuals has been nearly 10 times greater than the increasing in the working-age population since 2019.

Affordable home build starts fell by 37.8% in 2024, which Search Acumen says is the largest drop in 10 years.

In addition, this is the lowest number of build starts since when records began in 2015.

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Planning permission approvals have also fallen.

In 2018, there were 6,304 approvals granted for affordable homes in England alone.

In 2024, only 3,744 approvals were granted.

“With a growing base of people not working, the mismatch between supply and demand is acute,” said Andrew Lloyd, managing director at Search Acumen.

“For the current government, closing this gap will be hard, but Labour is keen to prove themselves and show results within their electoral term.

“There is hope things will change, but the complex economic backdrop of tighter margins, inflated costs and skill pressures on housebuilders weigh heavily against social need.”