With over three times the volume of monies invested in equity compared to property last year, the pace of growth in equity investing by Bank of Ireland private banking overtook property in 2005-06.
Bank of Ireland says this change represents a reversal of the pattern of the previous year and indicates that Irish high net worth investors are moving in line with longer term norms across Europe.
Commenting on the findings, Mark Cunningham, managing director at Bank of Ireland private banking, said: It is interesting to see the significant increase in investor appetite for both equity and property investments in the past year.
However, what distinguishes it is not only have we seen three times the volume of money going into the equity markets but we have also seen growth in equity investing outpace growth in property investing for the first time since 2000. In the past year or so our clients have been increasing their weighting of investments into equity markets and, with our funds delivering in excess of 20% last year, it was a move that has been richly rewarded.
This increased interest in equity markets may also mark a turning point for Irish high net worth investors as the pattern of investment flows here more closely resembles private banking markets around Europe.
We anticipate that this trend towards longer-term diversified wealth management will be increasingly the norm for wealthy families here, just as it is across Europe and the US. Combining these trends we expect to see up to a billion euros in new investment flows in both equity and property in the coming financial year, Mr Cunningham added.