Experts reckon it will take FORTY YEARS to fix England’s housing crisis – meaning young people will be stuck living with their parents and house prices will stay high.

Property experts Bidwells reckon England needs 2.5 MILLION more homes – that’s the same as building a city the size of Birmingham from scratch.

The problem is only going to get worse with our growing population, meaning we actually need to build 550,000 new homes every year until 2031 just to keep up.

But right now, we are only building around 300,000 new homes each year. At this rate, Bidwells say the housing shortage won’t be fixed until 2063!

Young people hit hardest

The lack of affordable housing is forcing young people to put off buying their own place.

Bidwells say England is the only major European country where the number of people living in each house hasn’t changed in the last 20 years. This is because high rents and sky-high house prices mean young adults are delaying leaving home.

Government finances also affected

And it’s not just individuals feeling the pinch. The government is having to shell out more and more to support low-income families struggling to afford rent. Over the last five years, the bill for this has ballooned by 50% to a whopping £13 BILLION.

Bidwells’ new report, The Productivity Engine, blames the housing shortage on strict planning rules and a lack of government investment in house building. They say these are holding back the entire UK economy.