Americans still say real estate is the best long-term investment
- Real estate has topped the list for the past 12 years
- Stocks surpassed gold for the number two slot on the list
- Just 3% think cryptocurrency is the best long-term investment
FILE – A new housing development in Middlesex Township, Pa., is shown on Oct. 12, 2022. The cost of hiring a real estate agent to buy or sell a home is poised to change along with decades-old rules that have helped determine broker commissions. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
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(NewsNation) — Americans say real estate is the best long-term investment in 2024, followed by stocks and gold, according to a new Gallup survey.
It’s the twelfth year in a row that respondents have ranked real estate as the top long-term investment, although fewer think so now compared to just a few years ago.
According to the latest poll, roughly 36% of those surveyed said real estate is the best long-term investment, down from 45% who thought so in 2022. Even so, respondents still ranked the asset class ahead of stocks or mutual funds (22%) and gold (18%).
“For most of the past two decades, real estate values have grown, and those increases were especially large between 2021 and 2022,” Gallup Senior Editor Jeffrey Jones wrote. “As such, it is not surprising that Americans have consistently believed real estate is the best long-term investment, even though other sources, particularly stocks, have also shown steady growth over time.”
Investors’ appetite for real estate has been especially evident recently. Last quarter, investors bought a record 26.1% of the affordable homes that were sold in the U.S., according to Redfin.
Strong growth in the stock market has also influenced opinion. The share of Americans who chose stocks as the best investment jumped seven points from 2023 to 2024.
That gain mostly came at the expense of gold, which fell to the third slot, down seven points from the year before. Even so, gold has hit record highs in recent months.
Gallup’s annual report found that 62% of U.S. adults now have money invested in the stock market, the highest level since the Great Recession.
Just 3% of those surveyed thought cryptocurrency was the best long-term investment, down from 8% in 2022.
The latest results are based on Gallup’s annual Economy and Personal Finance survey, conducted April 1-22.
Which of the following do you think is the best long-term investment? (Gallup)
- Real estate – 36%
- Stocks/Mutual funds – 22%
- Gold – 18%
- Savings accounts/CDs – 13%
- Bonds – 4%
- Cryptocurrency – 3%