14 Years Running: Why Real Estate Still Beats the Stock Market

Quick gut check: which do Americans trust more as a long-term investment — the stock market, or real estate?

For 14 years, the answer hasn’t budged. It’s real estate — and not by a hair. Year after year it outranks the stock market (along with gold, savings accounts, and bonds) as the investment Americans believe in most. If you’ve been sitting on the fence about buying — waiting to see what the market does, wondering whether now is the moment — you’re in good company, and the long view is worth a look before you decide anything. Let’s walk through it.

Real Estate Takes the Top Spot — Again

Every year, Gallup asks Americans to name the best long-term investment. And for the 14th year in a row, real estate came out on top (see graph above).

That’s not a hot streak or a fluke. That’s more than a decade of real estate beating out stocks, gold, and everything else — through rising rates, market swings, elections, and no shortage of headlines telling people to wait. Through all of it, Americans kept picking real estate. That kind of staying power says something about how people view owning a home. And it makes sense, because historically it’s been one of the most dependable ways to build wealth in this country.

As Michelle Egan, Head of Credit Solutions, Impact Finance at JPMorgan Chase, puts it:

“Owning a home has long been considered one of the most reliable ways to build wealth. Beyond providing shelter, a home is a valuable asset that can appreciate over time, build equity, and serve as a financial resource for generations.”

You may have seen chatter online about home prices falling, and wondered if that changes the math. It really shouldn’t. Nationally, home prices have kept rising over time — just at a gentler pace than during the frenzy. Some local markets see small dips here and there, but those are minor next to how much home values have grown over the long run. Over any reasonable stretch of time, home prices almost always climb. As long as you plan to stay put for a good while, you should still have the runway to build equity — and the local numbers below back that up.

What the Numbers Actually Look Like in the Portland Area

Forget the national headlines for a second — here’s the real, current picture where you’re actually buying. These charts update on their own, so what you’re seeing is today’s market, not a snapshot from months ago.

Home prices: a plateau, not a collapse

Portland-area median list price over the past several years. The story isn’t a crash — it’s prices settling into a plateau near the top of their range after the run-up. Dips have been shallow and short.

Latest reading (snapshot — refresh quarterly): median list price ~$650K; ~$310/sq ft.

This is the answer to “should I wait for prices to fall?” Locally, they haven’t fallen off a cliff — they’ve leveled out near their highs. Waiting for a big crash means betting against 14 years of national data and a local market that’s holding its ground.

Rent: the money you’re not getting back

What renters in the Portland area are paying each month. Every dollar here builds a landlord’s equity — not yours.

Here’s the number we’d point to most. A typical Portland-area rent runs in the ballpark of a mortgage payment — except rent builds someone else’s net worth, month after month, with nothing to show for it at the end. When you own, that same kind of payment is quietly building your own. It’s the clearest local snapshot of why so many people still land on the side of buying, even when affordability is tight.

And you’ve got more options to choose

Homes available in the Portland metro. More inventory — and homes taking a little longer to sell — means less pressure on you as a buyer than at the peak.

More homes to look at and a bit more time to decide is exactly the environment where a good buyer, with a good agent, makes a smart move instead of a rushed one.

More People Say Buying Beats Renting

Homeownership has been seen as a worthwhile goal for years now, but here’s the interesting part: it’s actually gaining a little popularity again.

In the most recent Bank of America Homebuyer Insights Report, 53% of people said it’s better to buy a home than to rent or move in with family — the first time buying had taken the lead since 2023 (see graph below).

The same report turned up a couple of other signals that confidence is climbing:

• 90% of people said a home is a valuable investment — up sharply from the year before.
• 94% said owning a home provides stability — also a big jump.

Big moves in a short window. So what’s behind them?

It’s About More Than Money

Affordability is still tight, and yes, some homes around the metro are still hard to break into. But that hasn’t dented what people feel about owning a home — and the reason is simple. It was never purely a financial decision. It’s a lifestyle one.

A home pays you back in ways a brokerage account never could. As Sheharyar Bokhari, Principal Economist at Redfin, says:

“For many homeowners, a home is more than a place to sleep and store belongings — it’s a reflection of who they are. Homeownership can help people put down roots, build relationships and create a space that feels uniquely their own.”

You can’t get that from a stock ticker. A home is the one investment that grows your wealth and gives you a place to build your life. That combination is exactly why it keeps landing at the top of the list.

Thinking It Through? Let’s Talk.

For 14 years straight, Americans have called real estate the best long-term investment — and locally, prices are holding while rent keeps climbing. If you’ve been weighing whether buying is worth it here in the Portland metro, you don’t have to run the numbers alone. We’re a father-daughter team who does this every day, and a no-pressure conversation is the easiest first step.

Let’s connect and talk through what your first — or next — move could look like.