Why Real Estate Is America's Top Investment 14 Years Running

By The Hollinger Team

Diana, Kellie, Dane, Drew and I have over 85 years of experience in Montana real estate, specializing in waterfront properties. Let’s see what we can find for you.

Every year around late summer, I look forward to the same report. Gallup asks Americans which investment they’d pick to buy and hold for the long haul. For the 14th year in a row, real estate came out number one, ahead of stocks, gold, savings, bonds, and crypto. That kind of staying power is worth pausing on.

It’s interesting to look back at what was winning before this streak. Fifteen or 16 years ago, when there was real turmoil in banking and lending, gold was the one people reached for. It felt like the safe harbor, and over that stretch it turned out to be a decent long-term hold. But gold drifted down the list, and for the last few years it’s been trading the number two spot back and forth with stocks. The other one that surprises people is crypto. Despite all the noise you hear about it, crypto has been in steady decline as a first choice ever since it was added to the list.

Here’s what I think really drives real estate to the top. Compared to every other option, real estate is something you can actually improve. You can add money to savings or buy more gold or more stock, sure, but you can’t do anything to make a bar of gold or a share of stock worth more on its own. With a property, you can put in the work, update it, fix it up, and make it more valuable on its own merit, largely regardless of what the broader market is doing. That kind of control just doesn’t exist with the other choices.

There’s a tax angle worth understanding too. With most investments, you don’t pay tax as they climb in value, only when you sell. Real estate is a little different. You pay property taxes along the way, and as your home rises in value, that tax bill tends to rise with it. It’s one of the quirks that sets real estate apart, and lately there’s even been talk, up in Canada and occasionally here, about taxing unrealized gains, meaning gains on paper you haven’t actually cashed in. It’s the sort of thing worth keeping an eye on as you plan.

None of that changes the bottom line. Through all the ups and downs, real estate is still the number one choice for people investing for the long term, and it has been for well over a decade. What I’d encourage you to consider is looking beyond just the home you live in. Real estate can be something you add to your portfolio on purpose, a place to put money to work, watch it grow, and improve it into something worth more down the road.

If you’d like to talk through what that could look like here in the Flathead Valley, I’d be glad to help. Call or text me at 1-406-837-5531 or email me at ScottHollingerMT@gmail.com, or visit flatheadrealestate.com. We’ll look at how real estate might fit into your long-term plans.