UK retail investors put £1.8bn (€2bn) into investment funds in January, the highest amount ever for the first month of a year, with continued enthusiasm for property funds fuelling the record inflows.

Property funds attracted a net £373m from investors over the month, according to figures from the Investment Management Association. The next most popular asset classes were strategic bond funds denominated in sterling, which pulled in £284m, and global bond funds, which took £277m.