Archive · 24 Jul 2025
Equity, Gold, Real Estate: Investment Returns Over Two Decades
Imagine you invested money in different things like stocks (equities), gold, and houses (real estate) in 2005.
Over 20 years, stocks and gold did the best, each growing your money about 14 times.
Real estate did okay, but not as good, growing your money about 4 times.
Debt assets performed similarly to real estate.
So, if you put in 1 lakh, stocks or gold would now give you around 14 lakh, while real estate would give you about 4 lakh.
The best investments in the long run are equities and gold.
Indian equities have yielded 14.4% returns over 20 years, multiplying investments by 14.7x.
Gold matched equities with 14.4% returns over 20 years, multiplying investments by 14.8x.
Real estate saw a 7.7% CAGR over 20 years, with investments growing 4.4 times.
Debt assets performed similarly to real estate, with a 7.6% return and a 4.3x multiplier.
In the short term, gold showed high volatility while equities showed steady growth.
- Who
- Investors looking to understand the long-term performance of different asset classes.
- What
- Comparison of returns from equity, gold, real estate, and debt investments over 20 years.
- When
- Over a 20-year period ending as of June 30, 2025.
- Where
- Data is based on Indian market performance.
- Why
- To inform investment decisions by highlighting the historical performance of various assets.
Various Asset Classes
Investment Performance
Asset Performance
Various Asset Classes
Indian equities and gold have historically provided strong returns.
Investment Performance
Real estate and debt have provided more modest returns compared to equities and gold.
- Equity 20-year CAGR
- 14.4%
- Equity Investment Multiplier
- 14.7x
- Gold 20-year CAGR
- 14.4%
- Gold Investment Multiplier
- 14.8x
- Real Estate 20-year CAGR
- 7.7%
- Real Estate Investment Multiplier
- 4.4x
- Debt Assets 20-year return
- 7.6%
- Debt Assets Investment Multiplier
- 4.3x