The Office for National Statistics Wealth and Assets Survey of UK adults, which quizzed people between July and December last year, revealed 38 per cent of the population identify company pensions as the safest investment.
This marked a slight fall from the previous period reviewed (40 per cent for July 2014 to June 2016).
Stocks and shares, and premium bonds were considered the safest options by the fewest number of people.
However when considering which method of saving will make the most of an individual’s money, property was the most popular option, chosen by 49 per cent of the population, compared with 20 per cent for employer pension schemes.
Since July 2010 the percentage of people identifying property as making the most of their money has been increasing, which may reflect a growing confidence in property prices over this period.
In contrast, the popularity of individual savings accounts (ISAs) and savings accounts has been decreasing, possibly reflecting low interest rates over this period affecting people’s attitudes towards these types of investments.
Nathan Long, senior pension analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, suggested the figures pointed to confusion with pension planning being worryingly on the rise.
"Investing in property is seen as the best way of making most of your money despite it being one of the least tax efficient ways to invest.
"More people are now citing a lack of understanding as the reason they are not in their workplace pension, even though auto-enrolment means most will not make any decisions whatsoever to join.
"The tail end of the retirement journey also is starting to show signs of people expecting to work longer, but with more than a quarter of older people not properly planning their retirement the reality could be even more severe. As people live longer and the cost of social care rises, the likelihood of inheritances acting as additional income in retirement falls."
Respondents who have not yet retired were asked to select all the sources they expect to provide income in their retirement from a list of 15 options.
The state pension has been the top option consistently since July 2010 with a small increase in the number of people giving this as the top option in July 2016 to December 2016 (86 per cent) compared with previous periods (81 per cent or 82 per cent).
The next most popular option was occupational or personal pensions with 68 per cent of respondents giving this option as a source of money for their retirement.
Less than half (42 per cent) of adults aged under 40 or those aged 40 and over and not retired agreed (strongly or tended to agree) that they knew enough about pensions to make decisions about saving for retirement.
The vast majority - 84 per cent - of employees were aware of auto-enrolment, with employees under the age of 35 a little less likely to be aware of the workplace savings scheme (80 per cent) while those aged 55 and above (that is, approaching retirement) were a little more aware (86 per cent).
A majority of those currently in work or not retired and intending to work in the future (59 per cent) expected to retire between ages 65 and 69. This has been the most commonly reported expected age of retirement since July 2010.
Of respondents who have thought about how many years of retirement they might need to fund, 37 per cent expected to be retired for between 20 and 24 years, a percentage that has remained broadly similar since July 2010.
Among men aged under 65 and women aged under 60 confidence that their income in retirement will provide the standard of living that they hope for increased.
In this period, 54 per cent reported being fairly or very confident, compared with a figure of 51 per cent in 2014 to 2016, with men more confident than women: 60 per cent were very or fairly confident compared with 49 per cent of women.
Juliet Schooling Latter, research director at Chelsea Financial Services, said: "It's a myth that property always rises in price. London prices have fallen post Brexit and older generations will remember negative equity in the 1990s. Owning a second property is also becoming less attractive as tax breaks are decreasing and costs are rising.
"It is encouraging that those looking to invest in a personal pension are increasing in number. It is also encouraging that knowledge about pensions is rising albeit slowly - there is clearly more work to be don to educate people about pensions and auto-enrollment.
"It isn't perhaps surprising that cash ISAs have seen their popularity fall. We've had interest rates at emergency levels for 100 months now and with inflation now at 2.9%, cash savings are losing value in real terms.
"At the end of the day though, the important thing is that people are saving for their retirement. We can't rely on the government any more, so the more we save, from a younger age, the better."
Steve Carlson, chartered financial planner of Cardiff-based Carlson Wealth Management, warned high taxes could harm property's prospects in the future.
"Property growth in the last decade has been very mixed across the UK. Some people have made good money, and some haven’t. Pensions have sat somewhere in between, offering a more ‘hands off’ approach with significant tax advantages – especially compared to property investment which has seen a whole range of new penal tax measures."
