The UK firm, launched in 2010, argues that UK investors have missed annual returns of 13.8 per cent for more than four decades through insufficient exposure to the UK residential market. (Of course, past performance is not a guarantee of future outcomes.)

Tracking evidence over 41 years, the firm found that residential is the best long-term performing asset class; by comparison, the equity market (the multi-asset manager favourite and next best performer) recorded a total return of 12.3 per cent per annum (based on the FTSE All Share Index).

Meanwhile, the Sharpe ratio, which measures how well the return of an asset compensates the investor for the risk taken, is more than twice as high for residential property over 20 and 40 years than it is for commercial property, the next best performer, Hearthstone says.

“While an immediate and significant switch into residential is not realistic, the weight of evidence supporting its inclusion in multi-asset portfolios is overwhelming," said Christopher Down, Hearthstone founder and chief executive.

Recently, residential property returns were incorporated into the statistics that are compiled and issued by Investment Property Databank; IPD data has been used to provide benchmarks references for property funds and derivative products.

Hearthstone cited data from the Barclays Equity Gilt Study, IPD, Reuters, Savills and its own resources as sources for its arguments.