The short answer is "YES!".

Long Answer is also "YES!", especially if you are lazy due to long term passive income.

A leveraged piece of income property has several unique characteristics that are not found in the market.

1) Property appreciation - Typically tied to inflation over the long term, let's use 3% in this example.
2) Principle reduction - Each monthly mortgage payment reduces the principle balance and increases equity in the property.
3) Cash flow - After paying the mortgage and management fees, accounting for replacement reserves and vacancy cost, there is money left over (in a typical investment).
4) Tax advantages - A residential property is depreciated over 27.5 years (commercial is 39). This reduces the taxable income while the asset is actually increasing in value.

The math.

$1,000,000 commercial property (780,000 improvements, 220,000 land)
$250,000 down payment
$750,000 loan 30 yrs @ 5% fully amortizing

$108,000 annual rents ($9000 monthly or .9% per month)
$27,000 annual operating expenses (management, vacancy, maintenance, insurance)
$14,000 property taxes
$37,250 interest expense
$11,050 principle payments

Profit
108,000
-27,000
-14,000
-37,250
=29,750 or 11.9% return

Cash Flow = 18,700 (29,750 Profit minus 11,050 principle) 7.5% cash on cash return
Appreciation = $30,000 (assuming 3% of 1,000,000)
Total return $59,750 or 23.9%

Depreciation = $20,000 You just made nearly 30K, but only paid taxes on 10K.

The appreciation is taxed at the capital gains rate when you sell the asset, the same as any market investment. The advantages of real estate are the 1031 exchange and the option for equity stripping via a cash out refi.

In year 2, the rents increase by $3,000 (3% inflation) and expenses increase $1,200 (3% inflation), which results in a $1,800 increase to the cash flow. Carry this out 5 years, the cash flow increases by 50% principle payments increase by $3,000 and interest reduces by $3,000.

The example above is purely hypothetical, but easily attainable with reasonable effort. It takes more work than buying shares of a mutual fund, but the returns are far better. After a decade of quietly investing in income property, you will magically appear to be an overnight success to those watching from the sidelines. Once you get established as a real estate investor, your real estate friends will start asking questions about your "Side Hustle" as an airline pilot.


DYODD, YMMV, JVSCOPE, etc...