The importance of using right reference point for comparison:

SF Bay area. SF Bay area is not a traditional real estate investment market. It's a very bad investment market not due to its lack of rise potential (sure, it may double again in next 10-15 years), but due to its awfully bad cash flow. Basically, the huge price versus rent ratio has probably permanently crippled this market as investable from a cash flow point of view. Of course, if you have tons of cash, you can still invest. But that would become a utterly bad usage of buying power, you could buy 5 houses in a different location and guaranteed all nice cash flow in a different location.

Real estate is a far superior investment, but you got to use a proper reference point to discuss it. Otherwise, the conclusion is self-deceiving.