We Again See Real Estate As Best Investment

The latest Gallup survey on investment preferences in the U.S. puts real estate ahead of gold and stocks for the first time in at least a few years in yet another example of how most people (at least in the U.S.) simply follow established trends.

Interestingly, those favoring real estate as the best long-term investment rose to as high as 50 percent a decade ago when the prior housing bubble was inflating.

There’s also a breakdown of preferences by income, age, and political party affiliation. Not surprisingly, those with higher incomes favor stocks and real estate over other investment choices and the appeal of gold goes up as income goes down.

By a wide margin, younger Americans think more highly of Savings accounts/CDs than do other age groups, but the most interesting part of this survey (at least to me) was how views toward equity markets change  based on party affiliation. Some 30 percent of Democrats think stocks are the best investment, but only 26 percent of Republicans agree, yet just 19 percent of independents also see it this way.