More than 60 local authorities have lost appeals to the planning inspectorate in 2017 because they did not have an adequate local plan in place, according to Savills research.
Its fifth annual planning spotlight said only 41% of authorities have an up-to-date post NPPF Local Plan, causing them to lose when they go to appeal as the NPPF has a predisposition to grant planning when there is no plan in place.
The research said that in the five years since the release of the NPPF, local plans are still failing to keep up with housing demand.
More than half, or 55%, of those authorities that do have a plan in place are allocating less than their objectively assessed need for housing implies.
Nationally, adopted local plan targets stand at 88% of housing need. In London, adopted plan targets are just 77% of those set out in the London plan.
Savills predicts there is a shortfall of more than 90,000 consents a year in areas where demand is highest.
It said while the NPPF has helped to boost overall consent numbers, it has not achieved its stated goal of responding to market signals and planning for homes in areas where affordability is most stretched.
Assessing need based on market strength would start to address housing affordability but could lead to big increases in housing need numbers in and around London, it said.
Its measure of housing delivery looks at affordability for both the sales and rental markets. Its says that in 23 local authorities, the lowest 25% of house prices are still 15 times higher than salaries, while rents are 60% of salaries.
In 97 authorities, prices are more than 10.5 times salaries, and rents more than 45%.
Some districts will have to find additional housing land from as soon as 2018 if these figures are used in the Housing Delivery Test identified in the Housing White Paper.
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