The average house price in England was about £300,000 in 2025. That is almost eight times what a full-time worker earns in a year, according to BBC News and Office for National Statistics data published on 16 July 2026.

That gap is at the heart of the challenge facing Andy Burnham, who was set to become UK prime minister after most Labour MPs chose him to replace Sir Keir Starmer on 19 June 2026. Burnham had tried and failed twice before to become PM. His third attempt won the backing of Labour MPs, and he has since given his first major policy speech since starting his campaign.

BBC Verify has looked at how serious the UK housing crisis is, and how Burnham's record and promises stack up. Housing is likely to be one of the defining issues of his time in Downing Street.

Burnham is known for overseeing a surge in house-building in Manchester while serving as mayor of Greater Manchester, a role covering ten local councils working together on transport, housing and the economy. Greater Manchester has published a plan to build new homes and connect communities to new infrastructure, under the slogan "turning the tide on the housing crisis." Burnham said the city-region is ready to deliver 75,000 new homes during the current parliament. He made that promise in July 2024, at the same time as launching a landlord charter for Greater Manchester — the first of its kind in the UK.

His "new deal for renters," set out in June 2023, aims to bring all rented homes up to a decent standard, including a target for 30,000 social rented homes. Social rent is housing owned by councils or housing associations, let at below-market rents to people on lower incomes. In November 2025, Greater Manchester announced an £11.7 million plan to bring long-term empty homes back into use and cut the need for temporary accommodation. Burnham has also said he wants to reform stamp duty — the tax paid when buying a home — and council tax.

One option for Burnham would be to spend a £39 billion, 10-year investment package entirely on building homes for rent by councils and housing associations, rather than using some of it to help people buy their own homes. That would be a shift away from the approach of recent governments, which have tended to focus on helping people onto the property ladder.

The national picture is difficult. Britain is short of 4.3 million homes, according to the Centre for Cities, a research group. The UK government wants 300,000 new homes built each year in England. Only about 233,000 were actually provided. The number of new homes starting construction in England has fallen sharply since late 2023 and remains below past levels, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported in April 2026.

The previous government, under Sir Keir Starmer, changed planning rules in England to allow more building on the green belt — the ring of protected land around towns and cities meant to stop them sprawling outward. Analysts said the changes should help boost house-building over time. But several problems remain. Builders said a shortage of skilled workers from Europe after Brexit has held back construction. The cost of building materials also rose sharply after the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Some analysts said government rules on the environment and building safety are also slowing things down.

What Burnham's record tells us

Greater Manchester's approach offers a real-world example of the tools Burnham might use across the whole country. The strategy combines setting house-building targets, bringing in new rules for landlords, and spending money to bring empty homes back into use. The big question is whether what worked for one city-region can be made to work for the whole of England.

The £39 billion investment option shows the scale of thinking going on. Spending it all on social rent rather than schemes to help people buy would be a clear political choice. It would mean making secure, affordable renting a bigger priority than home ownership. That fits with what Burnham did in Greater Manchester, where he focused on social housing and protecting renters. But it would put him at odds with a long-standing belief shared across all the main parties: that owning your own home should be the goal.

The delivery gap

The problems builders face — not enough workers, rising material costs, and regulation — are mostly beyond the control of any single government. Changing planning rules helps more building projects get approved, but it does not create the workers or materials needed to actually build the homes. The gap between the 233,000 homes delivered and the 300,000 target shows how far intentions can fall short of results.

Burnham's housing record in Greater Manchester is both a strength and a yardstick. His time as mayor shows he can get things built at a local level. Turning that into a national programme delivering 300,000 homes a year — with fewer workers, higher costs, and a shortage of 4.3 million homes — is a much bigger challenge altogether.