Around three in five (61%) retail investors in the UK believe that buy-to-let (BTL) investments have become less attractive in recent years, new research from Shojin has suggested.

The investment platform said that BTL investing may have “lost its gloss” in recent years, following a string of tax and regulation reforms.

Shojin commissioned an independent survey among 690 UK adults, all of which have investment portfolios worth in excess of £10,000. This includes all forms of investments but discounted their savings, pensions and property used as a primary residency.

According to Shojin, the research underlined a “perceived complexity” of property investing. Two in five investors (40%) said they would be inclined to invest in real estate without the complications that come with property ownership, and among those aged between 18 and 34, the figure rises to 67%.

Shojin’s research also found that despite perceived barriers to traditional equity ownership, over half of investors (59%) currently consider real estate to a be a strong asset class to invest in. Looking ahead, the research showed that 37% of respondents would be inclined to consider fractional investment as a way of gaining a stake within the real estate landscape.

“It’s been a year of immense volatility and investors are continuing to balance risks and opportunities against a complex economic backdrop,” said Shojin CEO, Jatin Ondhia. “Crucially, our research points towards some notable trends in real estate investment.

“For one, it underlines that the appeal of BTL investing is in decline; higher stamp duty, the removal of tax reliefs, and greater regulation in the market are deterring people from traditional property investment.

“That said, the study showed that most investors still believe in the resilience of bricks and mortar as an investment asset in the current climate. And clearly retail investors are increasingly open to exploring different investment avenues as a means to achieving positive returns from property without owning the actual asset. We expect this trend to gather momentum as more digital advances continue to challenge traditional barriers of entry to property investment.”

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