35% of finance professionals would be tempted to invest a redundancy payout in a buy-to-let property, according to new research from PropertyEarth.net, the ‘chain free’ property portal.

While 30% of finance professionals would use a redundancy payout to cover everyday living costs, property is the preferred outlet for those looking to invest their lump sum, followed by a saving account (14.6%), gold (10.7%), FTSE 100 stock market shares (7.8%) and oil (1.5%).

The average severance package received by banking, finance and insurance professionals on redundancy is £21,300, which is now enough to cover the cost of a 25% deposit on a chain free one-bedroom flat listed on PropertyEarth.net, costing £84,208.

Listings on the portal come largely from lender repossessions and developers selling unwanted stock.

PropertyEarth.net claims its average net rental yield is 6.59%, meaning an investor could generate a rental return of £14,037 over 10 years after costs, not taking into account potential capital growth.

The research also revealed that 72% of prospective investors consider property as a long term investment.

Dominic Toller, PropertyEarth.net’s managing director, said: “This research shows that property is still viewed as a strong long term investment