optionsXpress Survey: 71% of Retail Investors See Real Estate as Risky Bet for 2010

Investors split on the “bullishness or bearishness” of the overall market.

Business Wire

posted: 3 DAYS AGO

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Despite the upbeat news about a housing market recovery, a significant majority of sophisticated retail investors still see real estate as a high-risk investment through 2010.

The survey, conducted in mid-October, found 47% of optionsXpress customers see real estate as somewhat to significantly risky versus only 19% who believe it is somewhat to not risky.

Slightly more investors are bullish about the overall market in 2010 than bearish – with 24% of retail investors bullish and 17% bearish. However, at the extremes, more than 7% were significantly bearish – almost double the 3.6% who were significantly bullish.

“These results are important given the level of sophistication of the respondents who consistently trade over a broad range of asset classes, including equities, options and futures,” said David Fisher, CEO of optionsXpress. “People may be shying away from real estate, but in general they are staying active in the stock market as illustrated by our customers where total accounts are up 15% over 2008 and assets within those accounts are at record highs.”

The survey was conducted by optionsXpress as part of a monthly series that assesses investor sentiment.

About optionsXpress Holdings, Inc.

optionsXpress Holdings, Inc., a pioneer in equity options and futures trading, offers an innovative suite of online brokerage services for investor education, strategy evaluation and trade execution. optionsXpress Holdings subsidiaries include optionsXpress, Inc., a retail online brokerage specializing in options and futures, brokersXpress, LLC, an online trading and reporting platform for independent investment professionals, Open E Cry, LLC, an innovative futures broker offering direct access futures trading for high volume commodities and futures traders through its proprietary software platform, and Optionetics, Inc, a leading provider of investment education services, including live seminars, proprietary software analytics, online and offline educational products and individual coaching.