Tradition has dictated that long term stocks and shares investments easily outperform property - Not so for the new millennia as recent statistics show very much the opposite.

Were you around for the early nineties?
Were you around for the early-mid nineties when property was well and truly stuck in a rut? (well – along with most of the UK economy really!) For anyone who spent those years struggling to pay a mortgage against static or negative property growth the past few years must seem like a dream. Statistics now collated to the year-end 2003 show that property prices rocketed at the fastest rates since the boom period of the mid-late eighties.

Property wipes the floor v’s shares
Indeed statistics show that shares have slumped to such lows that property would certainly have been a better investment over the past 15 years, returning up to three times the profits in comparison to the stock market.

This hard proof has upset the conventional wisdoms we are encouraged to believe that equities (shares and stocks) will create better returns over the long term. This may have been factually true until the past few years when the stock market lows mean that shares have well and truly been knocked of their pinnacle.

Experts state “Over the past 15 years, the Halifax house price index in the UK has soared by 147%, while the FTSE All-Share has climbed by just 48%”. Indeed over the past decade residential property has increased on average by more than 85% whilst in comparison shares are up an average 50%. Since 1997, property has risen around 70% while the stock market has dived around 30%.

Regional variations
Media reporting of the residential property boom is rarely off the front page or daily tv news. Typically this has focussed on London the past few years but now the capital seems to have largely peaked and latest property hotspots include northern counties, and parts of Wales and Scotland.

Property investment goes global
As reported on the propertybanking website Britons are purchasing overseas properties in increasing numbers. And traditionally popular countries for investment such as France are giving way to the emerging eastern European countries as European Union membership expands.

And this trend is not simply a case of families emigrating for a different life or retirement. We are buying in more varied locations for investment opportunities such as buy-to-let or holiday home. This trend is set to continue as the gradual slowdown in UK house prices sets the search for the next property hotspot – worldwide!

This phenomenon has additionally been strengthened due to the UK buy-to-let market becoming overstretched. Specialist firms such as propertybanking (Asset Design) are assisting those looking to buy in these emerging markets with sensible advice and financial solutions for overseas property buying.

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