The National Planning Housing Advice Unit (NHPAU) has said that even if extra homes are built, affordability will remain an issue as England heads for a housing crisis.
The South West, South East and East will be the worst hit in terms of affordability, with the NHPAU estimating that the areas could become worse than London.
To help tackle this growing problem, the NPHAU has said that regional authorities will need to ensure that their delivery plans increase the level of housebuilding across the whole country. It has however welcomed the government's ambitions for increased housing.
It has estimated that 270,000 extra homes will need to be built each year until 2016 to address the problem - more than quarter of a million more than the government's current target figure for 2020.
Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said that some councils are being difficult about the issue of building new houses: "Some of them say they don't want more homes in their area, and the problem with that argument is that it's just not fair - every other area needs to do its bit.
"This is an issue that faces us right across the country now. Every community in the country now does need to do more to support more housing. We have an ageing, growing population, more people living alone.
"We also have to take account of the need to improve the quality of housing, make sure they're planned sustainably, that we've got infrastructure in place.
"You can't just look at the quantity, you've also got to look at the quality as well, and that's why we've set the target we have to make sure that the homes that we build can be sustainable for the future as well."
