rate inflation, while stock prices have increased at 2-3 times the rate of inflation, on average.

The government has provided hefty subsidies through the tax code that have artificially increased post-tax returns for real estate investors, but these subsidies have been scaled back and returns are likely to fall commensurately. IMO, it’s far more important to find the right real estate than the right stocks to buy — no-load index funds provide a way to participate cheaply, safely, and easily in the stock market, without having to pick individual stocks, but I’m not aware of any such equivalent for real estate (yes, I’m aware of REiTs, but they’re not really the same).