Survey Says Real Estate is the Best Investment

This past April, Americans were asked what they felt was the best long-term investment they could make. In the words of Steve Harvey from Family Feud, the "Survey Says" REAL ESTATE was ranked as the number one long-term investment, even topping stocks and gold. The poll was put together by Gallup and gathered its results based on the answers provided by 1,000 U.S. adults who participated. Real estate has come out as the top investment choice for the past two years, and is leading by double digests over the 4 other popular investment choices.

In this recent survey, 35% of those who participated selected real estate as the top investment choice while stocks and mutual funds received 22% , Gold with 17%,  savings accounts/CDs with 15% and bonds with 7%.

Many American have a very positive perspective regarding real estate in recent years, especially considering back in 2011, 34% of Americans said gold was the top long-term investment choice and, at that time,  19% said real estate.

"As the average sale price of new homes in the U.S. increased from $259,300 in August 2011 to $348,900 in February of this year, the percentage of Americans picking real estate as the best long-term investment almost doubled," according to Gallup. "During approximately the same time span – from August 2011 to April of this year – gold prices plunged from $1,910 to $1,254 per ounce, and the percentage thinking gold would be the best investment was cut in half."

The poll also found some other interesting data regarding real estate and long-term investing:

• Men are more likely to say gold is the best long-term investment. Women tend to favor savings accounts.
• Participants younger than the age of 30 were the least likely group (26%) to place real estate as their top investing choice. They were most likely to choose savings as their top long-term investment choice.
• Homeowners (34%) and Renters (32%) almost equally  choose real estate as their top long-term investment choice.

Article, Data and Quotes sourced from Gallup.com