It’s still better to buy property than save money in a pension, according to people who took part in a recent survey.
In their regular Wealth and Assets Survey, The UK Office for National Statistics asked people across the UK which investment opportunity would make the most of their money. A staggering 49% thought that property was the best way to save.
This is the highest amount since the survey began in 2010, and is up from 46% on the previous edition of the survey.
It comes despite several warnings about the UK property market falling behind other major housing markets and property prices dropping during the latter months of 2017.
Despite the increasing interest in investing in property, 40% of respondents still believed that investing in a workplace pension was one of the safest ways to save for retirement.
Meanwhile, of all adults with non-mortgage debt, 8% considered it to be a heavy burden on their finances.
Why Is Property Growing In Popularity?
We’ve long been a nation obsessed about property. You only have to look at the number of property programmes on the TV to see just how much we love anything to do with our homes.
However, more recently, the reduction of interest rates has seen significant decreases in the cost of mortgages. Lower interest rates also make it less attractive to put money into ISA’s and savings accounts.
So, when you combine these two factors, it’s easy to see why more and more people are seeing property investment as a good way to save money for their retirement.
Just remember that you’ll always need somewhere to live and so your own home isn’t necessarily a good way to invest for the future unless you plan on moving to a lower value property in later life.
Therefore, buying to let is usually the best way to go.
