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I can't claim expertise comparing particular funds. But for example, hasn't Vanguard's Real Estate EFT outperformed the S&P 500 by a wide margin? And beside se

I can't claim expertise comparing particular funds. But for example, hasn't Vanguard's Real Estate EFT outperformed the S&P 500 by a wide margin? And beside serious investors, for the typical individual, a home loan allows them to leverage funds that are unimaginably beyond what they could raise for investment with vastly more safety. Not that I suggest it would be better if half the population could and did buy stocks on unlimited margin or the like. I just want to point out that even on this one particular issue, we gradually made policy and decided and made it such that one kind of loan is vital and the other insanely too risky. That at this point, this is so ingrained that it's hard to imagine any alternative. But I suggest we should probably try.

dbmikus 7y ago
The S&P 500[1] has outperformed the Vanguard Real Estate ETF[2]. [1]: https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/performance/vfiax https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/performan... [2]: https://investor.vanguard.com/etf/profile/performance/vnq https://investor.vanguard.com/etf/profile/performance/vnq
jcfrei 7y ago
> And beside serious investors, for the typical individual, a home loan allows them to leverage funds that are unimaginably beyond what they could raise for investment with vastly more safety. Not that I suggest it would be better if half the population could and did buy stocks on unlimited margin or the like. This is a very important point. Buying real estate is the most accessible way for an average-income household to get leverage - at least in the US where heavily leveraged financial products like CFDs are not easily accessible (at least to my knowledge). But in my opinion this another argument against investing into real estate because lots of uninformed buyers are in the market with increasing amounts of leverage leading to rather dramatic boom and bust cycles (like in the housing crisis of 2008).

dbmikus 7y ago

The S&P 500[1] has outperformed the Vanguard Real Estate ETF[2]. [1]: https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/performance/vfiax https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/profile/performan... [2]: https://investor.vanguard.com/etf/profile/performance/vnq https://investor.vanguard.com/etf/profile/performance/vnq

jcfrei 7y ago

> And beside serious investors, for the typical individual, a home loan allows them to leverage funds that are unimaginably beyond what they could raise for investment with vastly more safety. Not that I suggest it would be better if half the population could and did buy stocks on unlimited margin or the like. This is a very important point. Buying real estate is the most accessible way for an average-income household to get leverage - at least in the US where heavily leveraged financial products like CFDs are not easily accessible (at least to my knowledge). But in my opinion this another argument against investing into real estate because lots of uninformed buyers are in the market with increasing amounts of leverage leading to rather dramatic boom and bust cycles (like in the housing crisis of 2008).