Property trumps pension as retirement investment, economist claims

Property is a better investment for retirement than a pension, the Bank of England's chief economist has claimed.

Andy Haldane said he owns two homes - one in Surrey and a holiday home on the Kent coast.

When asked by the Sunday Times whether property or pensions were better for retirement planning, he opted for property.

He said: "It ought to be pension but it's almost certainly property.

"As long as we continue not to build anything like as many houses in this country as we need to ... we will see what we've had for the better part of a generation, which is house prices relentlessly heading north."

Baroness Altmann, the former pensions minister, told the newspaper his comments were "divorced from reality" and it was "irresponsible" to suggest people should rely on property rather than pensions.