Psyche of British investors unveiled – and property is our most popular asset

A recent survey has found that property continues to be the investment category of choice for UK investors.

An independent survey of 2,400 UK investors, conducted by leading researcher OnePoll on behalf of specialist investment company Select Property, has revealed that there is growing confidence in the UK economy which is causing investors to become increasingly active.

The research found that 60% are ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ in the UK property market and when asked which investment vehicle they would choose if they were given £100,000, more respondents chose real estate (40%) than any other asset. Unsurprisingly the most popular property types are buy-to-lets (44%) and family homes (43%) although quite a large proportion (21%) have invested in student accommodation.

57% are confident in the UK economy, while more than two-thirds (64%) consider the UK to be the safest place for investments and 40% believe it to be the most profitable global market. These stats support the latest industry reports about the health of the UK economy from the CBI and the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and with less than a year to go until the general election these figures are a good indication of how effective recent government measures have been.

The most popular investment classes identified by investors are ISAs, stocks and property, although 7% said they have previously invested in unusual assets such as films, wine and stamps. The average budget when making a new investment is £30,200 while 15% of respondents said they regularly spend more than £60,000. 32% said that their investment budgets had grown over the past five years.

To continue the theme of optimism, 60% of investors say they feel ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ about their investment portfolios and 53% of respondents believe their investments will perform better over the next five years. A third of all respondents said they are looking to make further investments over the next 12 months.

The results from the survey also highlighted that the gap between London investors and the rest of the UK continues, with Londoners standing out as the most confident and active investors. They have the highest average investment budget of £37,229, are most likely to have already invested in property (50%) and are also more likely to increase their investment portfolio over the next 12 months (44%). Londoners were also most heavily affected by the recent pension reforms with 31% stating that they had changed their retirement plans since the announcements, which suggests that they may be more reactive and willing to alter their investment strategies.