You never really own real estate (almost never the land since it remains the property of the government so it's a lease at best, you own buildings and that's it) - and ownership of real estate means being taxed on it forever for the privilege of having it (with increased levels of taxes over time, of course) which is not really compatible with the concept of 'property' - when you buy an object you don't keep paying for it forever.

And don't even get me started on the fact that most countries will steal that property back at death with outrageous taxation levels. That's some kind of a property all right.