Real Estate

The terms real estate and realty are used to describe immovable property including land, structures, infrastructure and non-crop plants. Real estate may, in some cases, also include surface rights, mineral rights and air rights.

Real estate differs from movable property and intellectual property in that it is attached to a specific geographic location and cannot be moved to another location. The stationary nature of real estate means that its value is directly linked to its physical location.

The term is most widely used to refer to land and to stationary buildings which are attached to land. Examples of real estate include private houses, condominiums, apartments, office space, commercial property (stores, shopping malls, hotels, factories, barns) and farm land.

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Editor Daniel Dreier
Daniel Dreier is editor and personal finance expert at moneyland.ch.