Research by a UK-based independent property investment consultancy found that the property was considered a better investment than gold and shares for investors to invest their cash to make profit.

According to the Worldwide Property Group's results from the latest confidence tracker survey, a massive 72 percent of capitalists considered real estate to be a good investment option.

Gold was in second place at 16 percent while shares dropped in third place with just 11 percent of the respondents, the report showed.

The survey also revealed a number of other interesting figures, 77 percent of respondents considered the present to be a great time to invest in UK property.

The USA and Caribbean topped the list of most desirable locations, followed by traditional favorites Spain and France.

It’s no surprise that so many people feel that property offers them the best investment potential. It has consistently produced strong returns for investors over the longer term and during a downturn there is even more potential to achieve great returns, said Kevin Wilkes, Managing Director of the Worldwide Property Group.

Cash-rich property investors could bag a bargain by targeting the US real estate market and 64 percent respondents predicted overseas markets would provide the healthiest returns.

The United States is currently a very appealing market with some incredible bargains, especially for those people who can afford a cash purchase. With property often selling at below build cost, this is a market that deserves investor’s attention. My tip for 2011 would be to make this the year that you invest. Don’t leave it too late and miss out on some of the best opportunities we have seen in decades, Wilkes added.

Meanwhile a report from Rightmove Overseas shows that property searches increased by 4.8 percent in December. The best performing countries were the USA, up 16.5 percent and Germany, up 15.5 percent.

According to the report, Germany has moved three places up in the country chart from 10th most popular country to seventh place while Berlin is the top climber, up 27.4 percent in search activity.

In the US area, Florida and New York were best performing with 25.3 percent and 15.2 percent respectively.

The cold snap and snow affecting much of the UK seemed to send people online in search of sunnier options in December. Typically we’d see a seasonal decline in search activity from November to December of around 5%, so a positive upswing of 4.8% was a welcome at year end, said Robin Wilson, head of Overseas at Rightmove.

Germany remains the undoubted star of 2010, finishing up only 23 percent down on January 2010, compared to France and Spain, both down nearly 40% at year end. Over the last two years it’s actually increased in search activity by 37 percent on Rightmove, Wilson said.

Buyers are attracted to Germany because its strong economic growth compared to other Eurozone countries.

Whilst most of the Eurozone flounders, Germany continues to shine. Germany’s manufacturing and industrial production has continued to grow and the weaker Euro has meant even more of their products being destined for export to global consumers. This in turn has led to business confidence hitting a record high during December, which bodes well for emigration to Germany as investors seek a stable property market,” said David Kerns, private client dealing manager at Moneycorp.

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