Real Estate Returns

This article compares and contrasts investments in residential, farmland, and commercial real estate. We also compare real estate investments to more traditional investments in stocks, bonds, commodities, and alternative assets. Price-change returns, rental returns, and total returns from 1991 through 2018 are the focus of the analysis. Including rent is important because rent makes up a significant part of the returns. We include empirically derived implicit net rent data from owner-occupied residences and owner-occupied farmland in the analysis.