The average savings pot of a homeowner is £16,286, a new YouGov survey among 2,000 UK adults revealed.
Nearly a quarter (23 per cent) of those surveyed have £25,000 or more in cash savings accounts and 15 per cent have over £40,000, the research made on behalf of specialist buy-to-let peer-to-peer platform Landbay shows.
The bigger savings pots belong to elderly homeowners, as 19 per cent of the survey respondents aged 55 and above said they are storing over £40,000 in cash.
Landbay estimates that homeowners combined could have as much as £433 billion in savings accounts despite the wide-spread dissatisfaction.
More than half (57 per cent) of savers are not happy with the current interest rate they are getting on their savings accounts. This proportion climbs to 62 per cent among savers aged 55 and above.
Many homeowners are apathetic about the earnings on their savings. Some 12 per cent of them are not aware of the interest rate they are getting, with the percentage standing higher (18 per cent) among homeowners younger than 54.
John Goodall, co-founder and chief executive of Landbay, comments:
“Although it was good to see the Chancellor acknowledge the plight of savers in the Budget with a boost to tax free savings, the reality is that very few will benefit because of the paltry interest rates on offer from the banks.
“The savings market is now polarised into two groups. On the one hand we have the settlers, content with little to no interest rate return on their savings but willing to settle as it avoids any form of risk. On the other hand, we have the reachers, a growing number of savers who are keen to make their money work harder and take a small level of capital risk for improved returns. Six years of rock-bottom interest rates has created angst in the savings market, and a new wave of savers are considering alternative forms of finance to avoid their money losing value in the bank.
“When choosing between risk and security it is not all or nothing. Finding the balance between ease of access in savings, and putting some cash under slightly more risk to attain higher rates is merely sound financial planning.
“Alternatives to savings accounts are always worth looking into if your money is not working hard enough and only earning measly interest rates. Given how much homeowners are keeping in cash many would benefit from putting just a small amount of their savings into low risk investment products as part of a more balanced approach to their finances.
“By moving just part of your money away from savings accounts, you can make your money earn a far higher rate of return.”
