Ukraine Crisis helps property retain status as safe investment

Moments of major international uncertainty such as the Ukraine crisis lead to property being regarded as a safe investment.

That’s according to Auction House, the UK’s biggest property auctioneer, which says history shows people choosing property over shares at times of world upheaval.

“Our hearts go out to the Ukrainians and the horrific suffering they are currently going through. All of us want to see a speedy and safe resolution to the conflict, and an opportunity for those individuals to be able to return home” explains Auction House managing director Jeremy Prior.

“However, for the rest of us, in times of global volatility it is important to keep calm and make measured decisions, as opposed to knee jerk ones which often come back to haunt us. And it’s true that in moments such as these, investors tend to choose bricks and mortar, rather than stocks and shares.

“In difficult times, investments which you can see, touch, and feel tend to be the safest and most popular – which is why property does so well. History shows us that it’s happened before, and we have no reason to believe it won’t happen again.”

His comments come as Auction House release its results for the first two months of the year, which indicate a rise.

The group offered 576 properties during that time and sold 475 of them – a rise of four per cent t year on year with a success rate of 83 per cent.

“Our sales continue to be strong, the market remains robust, and demand continues to outstrip supply – as evidenced by our performance this year so far” continues Prior.

“All of this is set against a challenging background of coming out of Covid, where we continue to offer livestream auctions across the country because the pandemic has proved they are what both buyers and sellers prefer.

“Right now, we need to understand that the stock market is extremely sensitive to world events - as is evidenced by the FTSE 100 Index falling by over 600 points since the middle of February and the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.”