Almost half of savers believe that investing in property will make them the most money for retirement, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The latest results from the Wealth and Assets Survey, which is a longitudinal survey where respondents are questioned every two years, covers the period July 2014 to December 2015.

It found that 45 per cent of respondents believe they are likely to make the most money for their retirement from investing in property. In contrast 25 per cent believe they will make the most money through an employer pension. This belief in property has increased slightly from 42 per cent since the last results (July 2012 – June 2014) whilst pensions dropped from 26 per cent.

However, in the period, paying into a pension was considered to be the safest way to save for retirement, with 41 per cent of those asked giving this as the safest option, broadly similar to July 2012 to June 2014 (40 per cent), but an increase on July 2010 to June 2012 when 35 per cent considered this safest. Investing in property was the next most frequently selected option with 28 per cent considering this the safest way, a percentage that is unchanged on July 2012 to June 2014.

In addition, of those not currently contributing to a pension in July 2014 to December 2015, exactly half gave the reason for not doing so as ‘low income, not working or still in education’. This was higher than between July 2012 to June 2014, when 45 per cent of those not currently contributing to a pension gave this as the reason.

For men aged under 65 and women aged under 60 who have not yet retired, the percentage of people ‘very confident’ or ‘fairly confident’ that their income in retirement will provide the standard of living they hope for, increased from 41 per cent in July 2012 to June 2014 to 51 per cent in July 2014 to December 2015.

Commenting on the results, Paycircle founder Catherine Pinkney said: "Despite robust changes to the pensions landscape over the past couple of years - and a number of high profile pension scheme 'black holes' continuing to hit the press - employer pensions are still considered the safest ways to save for retirement.”

However, Octopus Choice head Richard Wazacz noted that the “British love affair with bricks and mortar shows no sign of abating”.

“While a company pension scheme may be seen as the safest route to save for retirement, people still see residential property as the asset class that will generate them the best returns. Investments in, or secured against, residential property are generally seen as the ones that will deliver the strongest returns over time.

“After company pension schemes, they’re also seen as the next safest way to save for retirement. The UK investing and saving public is acutely aware of the historical returns generated from residential property as an asset class and many clearly expect more of the same moving forward.”

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