Several points to keep in mind. One is that owning a home to live in is not investing, but rather a living expense. Buying a property to rent out is investing assuming you do it well and generate income. Single-family rentals have worked very well for me to build wealth (much better than the S&P500) because of cash flow and leveraged appreciation. Since RE is more stable than stocks, you can safely use leverage (if you are carful). This allows 20% CAGR without too much effort in an asset class that is not hard to understand. The market is not good now to purchase, but will be again one day. So study and prepare now to take advantage when it comes!