On 2007-11-08 16:37:44 +0000, Andrew May said:

The Natural Philosopher wrote:
tony sayer wrote:

Look at it long term .. and yep, good as investment as any.

Historically a slightly worst investment than average actually.

A stock market tracker over the same period would have done better.


Which is probably true. It is surprising therefore that if you go into
a bank and ask to borrow 200k to buy a buy-to-let they won't bat an
eyelid. Go in and ask to borrow 200k to invest in a FTSE100 tracker and
you might get a different response.

Primary residence as collateral?



The reason that people have made such a profit over the last ten years
is not just the general rise in prices but the fact that a lot of that
investment has been leveraged. But just as that is an advantage in a
rising market is is a _big_ problem in a falling market.

In the long term it doesn't matter if property underperforms the stock
market slightly. If three-quarters of your investment is coming from
the bank your profit is increased four-fold.

Andrew