At one time, it was thought that owning a home was a great investment. While this is true in a sense thanks to real estate being a hedge against inflation, your home alone isn’t something to hang your financial hat on. The truth of the matter is more complex: appreciation rates shift based on national, even global, economics, market-specific characteristics, and individual property qualities.

Investing in real estate offers a wide variety of benefits for the investor. While we tend to think of cash flow as the primary advantage of owning rental properties, it’s far from the only or the greatest advantage. We would argue that it is the combination of various benefits — including tax breaks, appreciation, cash flow, hedging against inflation, and more — that make real estate a truly worthwhile investment.