Homebuyers are getting a raw deal with 82% of new housing built over the last five years failing to measure up on design quality.

The housing audit from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment has issued the first complete analysis of the design quality of new private homes nationwide (a total of 293 mid-market housing schemes).

The audit examines schemes from the largest volume house builders in the Midlands and South West, and integrates this analysis with data from the six other regions of England.

The results paint an unflattering picture: less than one in five developments were assessed as good or very good, and 29% are so poor they should not have even got planning permission. In the Midlands, no less than half of new schemes are poor.

The audit shows family housing with no play areas, windows looking out on blank walls, poorly lit areas, confusing sites with no focal point, and broad expanses of tarmac. Design quality was assessed using Building for Life criteria, agreed with the housing industry and supported by government.

The government has made clear what it expects and new policy puts design quality at the heart of the planning process.

Housing and planning minister Yvette Cooper commented: "Local authorities and developers need to provide the high quality new homes that people expect and deserve in every part of the country.”

“… since last summer developers are also required to submit detailed Design and Access statements alongside all planning applications for new housing. Local authorities must actively use these powers to insist on high quality and turn down proposals that are simply not good enough."