Clients favour real estate investments

When it comes to alternative investments, your clients prefer real estate over hedge funds and commodities, finds an AIMA survey.

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In fact, real estate had a neutral to favourable view from investors, with none citing it as very negative and the bulk noting it as positive (35%) and very positive (25%).

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This compares to commodities and hedge funds, which were almost exactly the same with a slight edge to the latter. About one-third of investors were indifferent to these investments, and another one-third viewed them as negative.

“Given where real estate has been and its generally low volatility (thanks to appraisal pricing), it is not surprising that it was a favourite (as long as investors has side-stepped huge losses in ex-Canada properties) while the other areas can have a more mixed history,” says the survey.

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And your clients think they’re knowledgeable about alternative investments, with 30% saying they knew some and 40% saying they knew quite a bit about these offerings. Specifically, 11% feel they have expert knowledge in real estate, 14% in hedge funds and 4% in private equities.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.