The stock markets have crashed and recovered and then crashed again. Similarly for commodities like silver and gold. The overall trend for silver and gold is positive though . Also stock market indices too over the years look positive. But that's an index, only if you buy the right stocks do you get the benefit. Essentially the risks, with an investment like stocks, are huge. Moreover less risky instruments like Mutual Funds have huge entry and exit fees.

Real Estate is the one investment from which you can get a steady income, and at the same time enjoy a steady appreciation. This specially holds good if you buy apartments close to IT parks, railways/metro stations in any big city, close to any place of commercial or industrial activity. A rental income is an assured monthly income with little hassles, all things going right.

It's also a usable investment. You can feel it, touch it, live in it, rent it out.

Currently real estate prices are increasing literally on a daily basis. This is definitely not a trend that is sustainable. If you plan to realistically invest in the real estate market, please ensure that you have a timeframe of a few years. The current real estate increases are hugely attributed to the buying power of IT professionals and their willingness to pay a premium for any piece of property. Places like Kerala too have show steep escalations and the main reason is the money flowing in from the Middle East. Even though Keralites believe that the land prices there are now higher than what they should be, on comparing to cities like Bangalore, Kerala is still very under priced. Similarly for Pune. Land prices in Pune are seriously undervalued compared to Bangalore. In 2005 you could purchase land in Kondhva for around 300 Rs per sq feet and land in Bhugaon close to the IT Park for 400 Rs per sq feet. The prices have increased a 100% within a year. It's still cheap compared to Bangalore !!

High incomes of IT employees, a bull run on the stock market and foreign repatriations have made the Indian real estate market a little volatile at this point. But a country with a billion people and still growing will always have a housing issue, and any investment in the housing market can never go wrong. Real estate; whether land or houses will always sell at a premium.

For most people who live in 3 storeyed apartments that are over 20 years old, builders have offered schemes where current apartment owners sell the land and building to the builder, in return for a bigger apartment. The builder constructs a high rise there and recovers his cost from the fact that in a building where there were 12 apartments, there are now 60. This is a win-win situation. Builders get prime land in the city and the apartment owners get an upgraded apartment that has a lot more market value.

Rents too have been on the increase. Apartments close to work places or transportation hubs rent well. Since most tenants are professionals, owners need not worry about tenants staying for long periods and then refusing to vacate.

Interest rates in India are much much higher than in the US. There it's about 6%, we're close to 9%. Realistically you can expect property to appreciate between 10-15% every year. Holds true more for land. For housing the property price increase usually depends on increase in costs of raw material like steel and cement.

Do not always look at real estate just as an investment. A house is always a great place to live in. For first timers, do not look at real estate as an investment, but a home to go to.