I looked it up, because I was curious. This is one of those things that's pretty hard to measure, given the 2008 housing collapse and the last few years of stock market volatility, although it looks like real estate still performs better over the last 20 years. It would be interesting to see this on a 5 or 10 year basis normalized for the volatility we've seen and geography. If I had a spare $40k down payment sitting around, I'd probably put it in an ETF or something versus said down payment. Liquidity in your early/mid 20s and a distinct lack of things tying you down is a major component of that preference.
Average annual returns in long-term real estate investing vary by the area of concentration in the sector. Average 20-year returns in the commercial real estate slightly outperform the S&P 500 Index, running at around 9.5%. Residential and diversified real estate investments do a bit better, averaging 10.6%. Real estate investment trusts (REITS) perform best, with an average annual return of 11.8%.
The S&P 500 Index's average annual return over the past 20 years is approximately 8.6%. By any measurement, the real estate sector has outperformed the overall market, even factoring in the drastic collapse in housing prices during the 2008 financial crisis.
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers...sector.asp
Average annual returns in long-term real estate investing vary by the area of concentration in the sector. Average 20-year returns in the commercial real estate slightly outperform the S&P 500 Index, running at around 9.5%. Residential and diversified real estate investments do a bit better, averaging 10.6%. Real estate investment trusts (REITS) perform best, with an average annual return of 11.8%.
The S&P 500 Index's average annual return over the past 20 years is approximately 8.6%. By any measurement, the real estate sector has outperformed the overall market, even factoring in the drastic collapse in housing prices during the 2008 financial crisis.
https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers...sector.asp
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"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth