In the recently published results of a representative Forsa (a leading German market and opinion research institute) survey on the topic of gold, three out of four respondents rated the precious metal as a good addition to other investments. 74 per cent said they considered gold to be a safe investment. Compared to previous surveys on gold, conducted once a year for the past 13 years on behalf of an online precious metal specialist, however, the conviction that the gold price will rise weakened, as did the classification of gold as the most profitable investment in the medium term. Both values, however, remain quite high compared to other asset classes.
Performance expectations: gold ranks second after stocks
While gold was rated the asset class with the best profit expectations over the next three years in last year’s survey, with 31 per cent of investors agreeing, the precious metal slipped to second place in the most recent survey, with 28 per cent of respondents believing gold has the best profit opportunities. A narrow first place this year goes to stocks with an approval rate of 29 per cent. This is due to the rise in money market interest rates and the expectation of further interest rate increases, which also explains the lower expectation for gold price increases among investors of only 50 per cent in 2023 after 54 per cent last year.
More German investors own gold than ever before
Investors’ lower profit expectations for gold have not stopped them from adding the precious metal to their portfolios. Since last year’s survey, the ownership rate of gold among investors is up from 11 to 12 per cent. Never before since the first survey in 2011 have so many German investors owned gold. By comparison: in the first survey twelve years ago, the figure was just half as high, at six per cent.