When is the best time to buy real estate if you’re a Queen?

One of the classic real estate anecdotes is that the best time to buy real estate is always 5 years ago!

In other words, real estate is a long-term investment so you want to jump in the game as soon as you can and then hang on for a long ride (dear life?).

According to the Financial Times, if you were the Queen of England, you would have seen your real estate income property portfolio produce a 9,200% increase in rental income during your 60-year & countin’ reign.

Queen Elizabeth’s rental property empire has survived the peaks and troughs of the market to return a 9,200 per cent increase in revenues during her 60-year reign, more than three times the rate of inflation.

The Crown Estate, the company that owns the sovereign’s land and property in the UK, produced rental income of just £2.5m in 1952 – enough to buy a mid-market central London house today. In its results for the year to the end of March 2011, the company reported revenue of £230m.

Cheers to that!