Americans have not changed their perception that their home is the best investment they’ll ever make, even in spite of the extended slump in real estate prices, according to the results of a new survey that was released by the Pew Research Center yesterday.

 

Eight out of ten respondents of the survey, which was conducted by telephone over the course of the last month, said that buying a home was still the best possible long-term investment that they could make.

However, the Pew Research Center pointed out that this doesn’t mean that the faith Americans hold in real estate is indestructible – the intensity with which people believe in real estate has fallen considerably, according to the latest results.

 

According to Pew, just 37% of respondents said that they “strongly agree” that the best investment remains home ownership, compared with a 20 year old survey by CBS News which put that figure at 49%.

The survey also gives us cause to think that attitudes will change again in future years, with the younger generations having a much more pessimistic take on the worth of real estate as an investment.

 

Pew said that from the results garnered, “People aged 65 and above feel most strongly about the value of home ownership, with 48% agreeing that it remains the best possible investment.”

Compare this figure with just 39% from those aged between 50 and 64 years, 32% from those aged between 30 to 49 years, and a low of just 35% from those aged between 18 to 29 years, and we can see that the trends do show that slowly but surely, real estate is losing popularity in the value stakes.