In London and the South East there are now 4.2 per cent and 1.4 per cent fewer homes than households respectively.
Last year, Britain built 162,000 homes and household growth was 220,000.
A decline in new housing completions over the last 20 years has meant that the lowest number of new homes were completed for 77 years.
Pierre Williams, spokesman for the House Builders Federation, said: "These figures now prove that Britain no longer has enough housing to provide every family with a home. Is it any wonder that house prices have spiralled when as a nation we seem unwilling to provide ourselves with something as fundamental as a roof over our heads?
"The stark reality is that a 30-year campaign by the anti-housebuilding lobby coupled with a collapse of public investment in housing has resulted in a society unable to house itself. Far from `concreting over the countryside`, urban expansion takes up just one per cent of England`s land area every 50 years.
"We constantly hear of the problems created by this property shortage - first time buyers and key workers unable to get a foot on the housing ladder, a growing north/south divide, the increasing risk of a boom and bust cycle in the market driven by those having to over-stretch their finances simply to get a home of their own, an increasing number of families being put up in bed and breakfast accommodation and over-crowding."
