Results from the company’s latest confidence tracker show that 72% of people who responded to the survey currently believe property to be the best investment, making it easily the most popular choice. Gold was in second place at 16% whilst shares trailed in third place with just 11% of the vote.
The survey, which covers several aspects pertaining to the property sector, also revealed that 77% of respondents consider this to be a great time to invest in UK property, with 64% also of the opinion that many overseas property markets represent a great opportunity to invest right now.
In fact, just over half of the people who took the survey are currently considering buying a property overseas with the USA and Caribbean by far the most popular regions. Spain and France also ranked highly.
‘It’s no surprise that so many people feel that property offers them the best investment potential. It has consistently produced strong returns for investors over the longer term and during a downturn there is even more potential to achieve great returns,’ said Kevin Wilkes, Managing Director of the Worldwide Property Group.
‘The United States is currently a very appealing market with some incredible bargains, especially for those people who can afford a cash purchase. With property often selling at below build cost, this is a market that deserves investor’s attention. My tip for 2011 would be to make this the year that you invest. Don’t leave it too late and miss out on some of the best opportunities we have seen in decades,’ he added.
Meanwhile the latest report from Rightmove Overseas shows that property searches increased by 4.8% in December. The best performing countries were the USA, up 16.5% and Germany, up 15.5%. Germany has moved three places up in the country chart from 10th most popular country to seventh place while Berlin is the top climber, up 27.4% in search activity.
‘The cold snap and snow affecting much of the UK seemed to send people online in search of sunnier options in December. Typically we’d see a seasonal decline in search activity from November to December of around 5%, so a positive upswing of 4.8% was a welcome at year end,’ said Robin Wilson, head of Overseas at Rightmove.
‘Germany remains the undoubted star of 2010, finishing up only 23% down on January 2010, compared to France and Spain, both down nearly 40% at year end. Over the last two years it’s actually increased in search activity by 37% on Rightmove,’ he added.
According to David Kerns, private client dealing manager at Moneycorp, one reason buyers are attracted to Germany is its strong economic growth compared to other eurozone countries.
‘Whilst most of the eurozone flounders, Germany continues to shine. Germany’s manufacturing and industrial production has continued to grow and the weaker euro has meant even more of their products being destined for export to global consumers. This in turn has led to business confidence hitting a record high during December, which bodes well for emigration to Germany as investors seek a stable property market,’ he explained.
