Collecting classic cars and fine French wines yielded a far better investment return than holding UK and US equities in recent weeks, as the hunger for real assets amid concerns about inflation and economic uncertainty boosted collectibles to higher levels, new data shows.

Prices fetched for classic cars – such as Ferraris and Porsches – rose by 4.79 per cent in June, a total of 6.34 per cent over the year so far, according to the Historic Automobile Group International’s HAGI Top 50 index. By comparison, global equities, as measured by the S&P Global 1200 Index, fell by 1.77 per cent during June.

Meanwhile fine wines, as tracked by the Liv-ex Fine Wine 50 index of sale prices, rose 1.5 per cent in June from the previous month, translating into an 11 per cent gain for the year so far. By contrast, the FTSE 100 Index of UK blue-chip stocks fell by 0.7 per cent and is only up 0.8 per cent for the year so far.

With gold prices – already near record highs – gains were muted, with a gain of just 0.1 per cent in June.