A report from the National Audit Office shows that the government is unlikely to meet its plan for 300,000 new homes a year by the mid 2020s.
Aileen Murphie of the NAO told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that the target will not be met unless the "planning system works better than it is at the moment".
"There are capacity shortages and when you look at private developers and the contributions they pay towards the infrastructure that is needed to support new housing - like GPs, schools, roads - they are paying less towards infrastructure and affordable housing than they agreed to at the start of the process".
Gráinne Gilmore, head of UK residential research at estate agents Knight Frank, said there were fundamental problems right across the board, including spending pressures on local authorities.
The government says that 220,000 new homes were build in 2017/8 - the largest number in all but one of the last 30 years.
