[ajiang]

One data point, one result. Obviously it's a universal truth right?

There are probably thousands of examples of people making an outstanding return on investing in property. And the example given in the post is extremely contrived:

"For example if you can start a new business with $50,000 then sell 20% of it to an investor for $200,000 in 1 or two years, you’ve created $1m worth of value in that time. Do you think if you bought a property for $1m with a 10% deposit, it would be worth $2m in two years or less? No way."

How many people can create companies worth $1M in 1-2 years that with certainty? How about compared to how many people can buy property? And what if you had invested in a house in China back in 2007-2008? The value of your home would have doubled by now so that your $1M would have been worth $2M with no extra effort.

Context, timing, skill, and luck play a great role into what makes a good investment. Let's be wary of over-generalizations made from anecdotal examples.