[ta_1138]

It depends on when and where: All real estate investment is a bet on a specific location, and properties don't maintain themselves: In general, the land appreciates, while the house on top of it loses value.

If you bought a house 15 years ago large parts of north St Louis, chances are you lost money, even without accounting for said home maintenance. They one I live in didn't go up 50% in 15 years. A lot of commercial investments? Ravaged.

So while it's true that it's possible to leverage yourself more in real estate, and that said leverage is even tax advantaged, assuming that the line will go up faster than anything else in a risk-adjusted way is a very risky position to take.