One in four investors under 45 consider cryptocurrencies to be the best investment of 2022, according to ING’s latest monthly barometer, published on Friday. Only ten percent of these young investors see equities as the best investment of the year.
Real estate, always in the top of the investment
All age categories combined, 16% of investors believe that cryptocurrencies will represent the best investment of 2022. Real estate remains the most profitable data in the eyes of Belgian investors, since 29% of them place it in first position. Behind the real estate-equities-cryptocurrency trio, gold comes in fourth place (8%), ahead of bonds or bond funds (5%) and cash (3%).
Some 70% of Belgian investors believe that the market value of the pharmaceutical sector will be much higher within three years than it is today.
What about financial threats?
Asked about the threats that will weigh on the financial markets this year, 34% cite Covid-19 as their main concern. Inflation raises almost the same concern (33% of the vote).
The December bancassurance barometer ended slightly down on the previous month, dropping from 110 to 104 points, just above the neutral level of 100 points.
“The new wave of the coronavirus is probably not unrelated to this insofar as no less than 34% of investors now expect a weakening of the Belgian economy over the next three months, compared to only 28% who expect a improvement. You have to go back to April to see the scales tip in favor of the pessimists“, analyzes Peter Vanden Houte, chief economist of ING Belgium.
Nearly half a thousand Belgians with an investor profile were contacted for this online survey, between the beginning and the end of December.