Prudential pensions says property more popular for retirement fund

A new survey by Prudential has found that people would rather invest in property than pensions to provide for their retirement.

It seems that the crisis in the pension sector has persuaded many to rely on their homes to provide an alternative source of income in their retirement and it now appears that property is as popular as a pension in retirement.

Prudential has discovered that 18 million homeowners across the UK are planning to downsize to a smaller home in their retirement and use the profits from selling their house to fund them in their later years.

That number translates to a massive 62 per cent of the nation's homeowners and will come as welcome news to house builders as demand for property appears to be far from over.

However, Prudential has warned that a rush to sell family homes in the near future could result in a glut of family homes on the market and a potential price decrease, which would leave a shortfall in many people's retirement funds.

Ali Crossley, director of Prudential's home equity plans, explained: "Selling-up to access just half the shortfall from the average UK house could leave pensioners competing with first time buyers in the property market."