Survey Shows Real Estate Is Americans' Favorite Long-Term Investment

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Bill McColl
Bill McColl
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Bill McColl has 25+ years of experience as a senior producer and writer for TV, radio, and digital media leading teams of anchors, reporters, and editors in creating news broadcasts, covering some of the most notable news stories of the time.

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Published May 11, 2023
Housing U.S.

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Key Takeaways

  • Gallup found more Americans identified real estate as the best long-term investment compared to other types of assets.
  • Gold jumped in popularity this year with 26% of respondents identifying it as the best long-term investment, up from 15% in 2022.
  • Just 4% voted for crypto, down from 8% in 2022.

More Americans chose real estate over stocks, gold, savings accounts, CDs, or bonds when asked what they believed was the best long-term investment, according to a Gallup poll.

Gallup indicated 34% chose real estate, down from the record 45% last year but about the same as prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which led housing prices to soar.

Gold jumped in popularity, rising from 15% in 2022 to 26% this year and overtaking equities for second place. Stocks and mutual funds were seen as the best long-term investment by 18%, a decline of six percentage points from last year.

Rounding out the top five were savings accounts/CDs at 13% and bonds at 7%.

The research firm added that over the past two years, it’s asked a random half-sample of respondents a similar question, but included cryptocurrencies as one of the options. In 2022, 8% picked digital coins, surpassing bonds. However, following the collapse of the FTX exchange and sinking prices, just 4% voted for crypto this year.

Article Sources
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  1. Gallup. “Real Estate's Lead as Best Investment Shrinks; Gold Rises.”

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