A report by a key housing advice body has asked the Government to increase its house building levels and has warned house prices in South West and East England could become "worse than London by 2026".

The report comes in response to the Government's housing green paper, Homes for the Future, which outlines the Governments housing strategy. The National Housing and Planning Unit (NHPAU) has looked at the paper however, and is warning that average house prices could rise to 11.3 times greater than earnings in the East of England,12.4 times in the South East and 12.9 in the South West, all of which exceed London at 11.0.

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The NHPAU believes that the plans discussed in the green paper are dangerously underestimating the quantity of houses needed.

Professor Stephen Nickell, chairman of the NHPAU, said: "The Government's Green Paper and recent Comprehensive Spending Review show a real commitment to delivering more new housing that will represent important movement towards stabilising affordability over the next decade. However, over the long-term, housing supply needs to increase further."

According to the body, 270,000 additional new homes than those suggested by the government paper are going to be needed by 2016 if there is any hope of maintaining house prices at an affordable level.

The NHPAU is a new independent body that has been set up to help make homes more affordable across England and is made up of some of the country’s leading economists. The body was created because of the growing disparity between house prices and earnings, and has been tasked with finding ways of bringing the housing market into line.

(DW/JM)