Seven out of 10 (70%) of Britain’s hot shot fund managers – in charge of active UK funds – would have been better off simply investing in bricks and mortar, according to Property Partner.

That’s despite the strong rises seen in the stock market over the past three years, with the FTSE 100 ending 2016 at a record level of 7,142.
 
Analysis by the property investment marketplace revealed that only 30% of fund managers (95 out of a total of 239) have beaten average house price growth of 24.9% since Dec 2013, across 100 major UK towns and cities.
 
Slough trumps the lot

Homeowners in Slough and Watford have made better returns on their property investment since 2013 than every UK fund, including the top performing ‘Castlefield Fund Partners SLD UK Buffettology’.

The fund saw 50.5% growth in that three-year period compared to average price increases of 52.1% (prices rising from £198,211 to £301,475) in the Berkshire town.

Watford also outperformed the fund with a gain of 51.3%, rising from £237,137 to £358,714 over the period.
 
Long-term leaders
 
The housing market has also outperformed stocks over the last 20 years. Since 1996, the average property went up in value 304% while the FTSE All Share gained only 270%. Top performers over the last two decades were Brighton and Hove on 510% beating London on 485% which was followed by Watford on 460%.

Dan Gandesha, CEO of Property Partner, said: “Over the past few years bricks and mortar has once again proved itself to be an investment to rival them all, capable of significantly outperforming the riskier forays of stock market speculators.

“Active fund managers use vast amounts of in-depth research to find hidden value in companies, but just by sitting on their properties, homeowners and residential property investors have beaten most of the very best investment minds in the UK.”