More than 60,000 houses in York are under-occupied, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The analysis released on August 25 shows 63,450 homes in York have one or more bedrooms extra than the amount of people living there.
Just 1,580 homes are overcrowded and 20,430 homes have the same amount of bedrooms as people.
With many of the city’s residents seemingly living in comfortable homes with spare rooms, “York hasn’t built much housing over the past decade or so,” according to the think tank Centre for Cities.
Its research shows the total housing stock in York went up by less than 6 per cent between 2011 and 2021, just under 5,000 homes.
They say this is “very low” not just compared to other cities in the region but to cities in the Greater South East, too.
Low house building rates, combined with high demand and planning constraints in large parts of the city, have made York one of the least affordable cities in the UK, it says.
Affordability ratio
In terms of the housing affordability ratio, which compares house prices to average income, York is in the top 15 alongside cities like Oxford, Brighton, Cambridge, London and Bristol according to the think tank.
They say “there might be constraints on conversions that contribute to under-occupation, but chronic under-supply is the biggest driver of house prices.”
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Valentine Quinio, senior analyst at Centre for Cities, said: “On a national scale, the UK’s planning system has delivered poorly on the rising demand for homes.
“This chronic under-supply of homes is the biggest driver of high house prices in York.
“Combined with high demand and planning constraints in large parts of the historic city centre, this house building crisis has made York one of the least affordable cities in the UK.”
The area with the most overcrowded homes in Yorkshire, however, is Leeds.
Thirty miles away across the A64, 12,775 homes in Leeds are overcrowded.