A lot! The following plots (real) household real estate value between 2000 and 2009.
This seems to be reality staring at people’s faces. Since 2001, I have always heard that real estate and land were “always” good investments, and that housing prices “always” rise. I have even heard retail bankers claim that real estate was always a good investment. I have even heard socialist activists trying to convince the “poor” in america to buy land in third world countries because land is “real” wealth. I think the collapse of the housing bubble contradicts this assertion. Was this mentality caused by the housing bubble, or is real estate over the long run, actually a good investment?