Wealthy Investors Bet on Property, Stocks as Caution Reigns, Barclays Says

Wealthy investors globally are avoiding derivatives and hedge funds and turning to property and stocks following the global financial crisis and economic downturn, Barclays Wealth said, citing a survey.
By: Sophie Leung: bloomberg.com
More than half of the investors surveyed said they are more cautious than they were before the crisis, Barclays said in a statement in Hong Kong today.
About 2,000 wealthy investors who have more than 1 million pounds ($1.47 million) in investments from 20 countries participated in the survey in February and March, it said.

“The uncertainty around the prospects and timing of the global economic recovery is causing investors to favor” equities and real estate, Joanna Chu, managing director and head of North Asia at Barclays, said in the statement.

Almost 90 percent of the surveyed investors in Singapore said the property market is likely to perform well in the next 12 months, while 68 percent of the Australian respondents said they are positive on equities, according to the survey.