The Treasury does a u-turn on SIPPs and residential property

In December Gordon Brown announced that self invested personal pensions or SIPPs would not be given immediate tax relief for pension investments in residential property. This about face on SIPPs by the Chancellor has caused outrage amongst the financial community and has left investors uncertain over future retirement plans that had been based on placing residential property, including oversees property, into their personal pensions plan.

The proposed change in the pensions laws had been on the statute book for 18 months, and so for the Treasury to change its mind, only four months before April 6th (A-Day), has left a great number of disgruntled investors who have already taken out SIPPs in readiness.

So what now for self invested personal pensions?

Commercial property will still be OK to hold within SIPPs and, if indirectly, residential property could also be held within self invested personal pensions too. To indirectly invest your SIPPs in residential property it will soon be possible to invest into Real Estate Investment Trusts and in that way to hold shares in residential property, but unlike self invested personal pensions (SIPPs) this will mean you do not buy the property directly.

What next for me if I wanted to invest in self invested personal pensions or SIPPs ?

Real Estate Investment Trusts or REITs have been popular in countries like Australia and the US for many years and, until now, have been unavailable to the UK investment market but as of 2006 this will change.

Since the Governments collapse on self invested personal pensions ( SIPPs ) and the ability to invest your SIPPs directly into residential property, the only choice left for investors looking to invest their SIPPs into residential property seems to lie in UK-REITs (UK Real Estate Investment Trusts). Although not as beneficial as SIPPs, the UK investors will be able to take advantage of the great tax benefits this form of investment has to offer.

UK Real Estate Investment Trusts ( UK-REITs )

UK-REITs or UK Real Estate Investment Trusts work in a similar way to Property Investment Funds ( PIFs ). Trusts made up of many investors' pooled funds may be used to purchase income property, and are then traded on the major stock exchanges in the same way as stocks.

UK-REITs have a number of benefits as with SIPPs, including a rather generous tax break and income is also paid, regardless of share performance, in the form of dividends. Although not as enticing as the proposed Self Invested Personal Pensions or SIPPs, UK real estate investment trusts (UK-REITs) are much less volatile and are well suited to a comfortable long term investment.