Property is probably a larger percentage of my portfolio than most people. You can get screwed on renting too - sure, you can always move, but moving sucks and I like stability. I have super-safe investments and insanely risky ones, and I'd put property much closer to the safe side than the risky side.

The bottom line is, in a truly free market I think housing would be a way less-good mechanism for investment. In our subsidized, zoning-restricted, NIMBY world housing can be a very good investment.