PHP echo $this->item->link in a href not working - showing JObject->link

quick question as I'm pulling my hear out!

In a PHP file I have different items pulled through such as contact details etc. I have pulled through $this->item->link which shows a URL which is perfect. I just want to make the url clickable, so I had the following code:

echo "<a href='$this->item->contactlink' target='new'>";
echo $this->item->contactlink;
echo '</a>';

This link doesn't work, stays within the site with a 404 and the URL looks like: http://ift.tt/1PtA62k>contactlink

What can I do or have I missed to get the link clickable?

Kind regards Liam