<p><span>English homes are less affordable and in a worse condition than those in most other developed nations, according to a new report from the Home Builders Federation released today (October 5).</span><span></span></p> <p><span><i><a href="http://www.hbf.co.uk/news/housing-horizons-new-analysis-shows-true-scale-of-how-uk-housing-is-falling-behind-international-counterparts/">Housing Horizons </a></i>shows that </span><span>England’s severe housing shortage has branded it the most difficult place in the developed world to find a home, with the lowest rate of available properties per member of the population of all OECD nations.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>HBF's report also reveals that England has the highest proportion of inadequate housing in Europe, with 15% of all existing homes failing to meet the Decent Homes Standard. According to the research, there are more substandard homes than in Hungary, Poland and Lithuania.</span><span></span></p> <p><span>And the UK has some of the oldest housing stock in the developed world. HBF has found that only <span>7% of British homes were built after 2001, which is "far less" than other countries including Spain, with 18.5%, and Portugal, with 16%.</span></span><span></span></p> <p><span>The report shows that b</span><span>etween 2004 and 2021, the UK’s rate of home ownership fell by six percentage points from 71% to 65%. During the same period, levels of home ownership increased by nearly 10 percentage points in France and by 15 percentage points …