Nation of Renters

Half of people believe the UK will become a nation of renters within a generation, according to a Halifax survey.

Half of UK people believe the country will become a nation of renters.

Around 77% of people who have not yet got on to the property ladder said they still aspired to buying their own home, but 64% said they thought they had no prospect of ever doing so, according to high street bank Halifax. Instead, 46% of 20 to 45-year-olds said they thought the country was becoming more like Europe, where renting is seen as the norm, and Britain would be a nation of renters within a generation.

A report published today by the Centre for Policy Studies shows that the Bank’s predictions have been getting worse over the past four years as it consistently underestimates inflation.This is in sharp contrast with the start of the decade when its forecasts were “almost spot on”. In the 12 quarterly inflation reports from August 2001 to May 2004, the Bank’s average forecast for inflation a year ahead was 2.2 per cent while the eventual outturn inflation was 2.3 per cent. In this time the bank was just 0.1 per cent out.

Watch an exclusive interview with outgoing MPC member Andrew Sentance, tune in to Jeff Randall Live at 7pm tonight on Sky News.

Mobile shopping could deliver a £4.5bn boost to Britain's economy by 2016 and a further £13bn by 2021, according to new research by online marketplace eBay. Despite the future potential of m-commerce, the research by retail experts Verdict, warns that the market is currently being held back by unreliable mobile broadband. The report claims UK retailers are missing out on at least £1.3bn as a result of consumer frustrations with patchy coverage, unreliable connections and slow connection speeds driving shoppers away.

EBay is calling on regulators to take action to enable m-commerce to support the UK's economic recovery. In a submission to communications regulator Ofcom, eBay is calling on policy-makers to do more to address consumer frustrations when rules for the fourth generation (4G) of mobile networks are agreed later this year.