Real estate investments can provide good returns, with farmland leading the way at 11.4% annually. Residential and commercial real estate also offer solid returns at 9.0% and 8.5%, respectively. The main source of returns from real estate investments is from rents, not just property value increases. It's important to not focus solely on price appreciation when making investment decisions. Real estate risk is hard to measure due to how prices are tracked, but adding real estate to investment portfolios can help diversify and reduce risk since real estate performance is not closely tied to stocks and bonds.