Real estate regaining popularity

Property is again in vogue with wealthy investors who plan to raise their exposure to the asset class in coming years, with the U.S., China and the UK the most popular places to invest, a survey showed on Monday.

The Barclays Wealth and Economist Intelligence Unit survey found 35 percent of investors plan to hike the property allocation in their portfolios over the next two years, double the 17 percent who planned to reduce it over the same period. The survey of 2,000 high net-worth individuals also showed this level of confidence was global, with investors in nine of the 10 biggest markets planning to increase their property allocation over the next two years.

Internationally, nine in 10 investors planned to hike their portfolio allocation by 1-4 percentage points. In Spain, where there is a glut of property, investors planned to pare back their allocation by 15 percentage points.

Respondents rated the U.S. as the most popular nation for investment, with 16 percent saying they expected to see the best returns there, followed by China and the UK, with 7 percent expecting the best returns in each of those markets.

Michael Dicks, a managing director at Barclays Wealth, said there was evidence of home market bias, investors preferring markets they knew best.

The survey also found 76 percent of respondents believed there were investment opportunities in residential property, while 68 percent said the same for commercial property.

"Interestingly, respondents seemed to expect high rental returns from investing in residential property" said Dicks, adding this was unlikely as historically commercial property delivered higher rental returns.

Rory Gilbert, a Barclays Wealth managing director, said the survey also showed many investors believed the end of the downturn in property values was near.

"It appears that those surveyed are prepared to not only exploit undervalued opportunities, but also to commit further to property over the next two years in the belief that they will benefit from favourable returns" he said in a statement. 

Gilbert also warned that investors should be careful not to over-commit to the property sector as there was still a degree of volatility in the markets.

"Wider market data suggests that initial indications of recovery in property could be a false dawn, or the start of a slow upturn. The next 12 months will be crucial in getting a clearer idea of what the longer term property investment landscape will look like" he said.