Why I still prefer gold to houses

Dominic Frisby recently wrote that, when valued in ounces of gold, Britain's house prices are at lows not seen for decades. That suggestion caused something of a stir. Here, he explains why gold is a better home for your money than property, and why our modern fiat currencies are the great fraud of our time.

We were astounded by the number of reader responses to my Money Morning piece last week on the ratio of UK house prices to gold. In terms of readers' comments, it broke the record, previously held by Merryn for her piece on the minimum wage. I even had a irate email from my father on the subject. Not all the comments were particularly polite, but they did raise a number of legitimate concerns which I want to address here.

The idea was to look at the performance of the UK housing market relative to gold since 1968, and to show that from a peak in 2005, the average house price is down some 70%, even though in nominal sterling terms it is only sitting roughly 10% off its peak.

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MoneyWeek is written by a team of experienced and award-winning journalists, plus expert columnists. As well as daily digital news and features, MoneyWeek also publishes a weekly magazine, covering investing and personal finance. From share tips, pensions, gold to practical investment tips - we provide a round-up to help you make money and keep it.