Some pretty simple, back-of-the-envelope math would suggest real estate can be an excellent investment. Let’s say you put 20% down on a $1M property. That's $200K. If your investment appreciates at the rate of inflation (as real estate tends to do over the long run), which we might suggest is around 2%, your $1M investment would be worth $1.02M after on year. Now an extra $20,000 is not much, but you’ve only invested $200K in this property, so your returns are leveraged 5x. Said differently, your 2% becomes a 10% ROE due to leverage. But the downside is just as leveraged. This is why things like 2008 happen. People want to borrow and banks want to lend, but they don't think carefully about how large their downside actually is. So when the uptrend reverses, a lot of loans end up in default.With that said, leverage tends to work in your favor and real estate is not marked-to-market like stocks are. Even if you're technically underwater (stock house declines by 20% or more) as long as you can keep paying the loan, you're fine. But note that there are notable costs associated with this investment. 30-year mortgage rates are around 3.5% and real estate taxes can often chip away another 2% per year. So there's over 5% of the returns per year. And that doesn't get into maintenance considerations, and so on. Though you do get tax benefits, such as depreciation write-offs and other benefits specific to where you live.One could also leverage the property with even less than 20% down, which would amplify returns but with more risk involved.Whether one tends to like real estate or not really depends on the person. Real estate is illiquid, time consuming, and hands on. Some like it because it allows them to control their investment, which is great for those who know what they're doing. Investing in the public markets (stocks, bonds, etc.), on the other hand, is more liquid and hands off. Neither have a particular advantage over the other.