TL;DR
Jorda et al. (2019) found that residential real estate total return (rent + appreciation) has been comparable to equities over 1870–2015 in many developed countries. Without leverage, equities edge ahead; with typical mortgage leverage, real estate often wins.
In short
The Jorda 'Rate of Return on Everything' paper is the definitive comparison. Pure capital appreciation favours equities, but residential real estate generates rental income that's often ignored in casual comparisons. UK housing has done particularly well due to chronic undersupply.
We're working on a full deep-dive for this article — including historical data, charts, and worked examples. In the meantime, you can run a free simulation to explore the underlying numbers yourself.
Frequently asked questions
- Should FIRE planners own rental property?
- It can work but is operationally intensive and concentrated. REITs give you real estate exposure without tenant management headaches.
- Is housing a good inflation hedge?
- Reasonably good — rents and prices both track inflation broadly, with lags. Better than nominal bonds, worse than TIPS/commodities for pure inflation protection.
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