Gold vs U.S. house prices vs Treasury bills

A $10,000 lump sum in January 2000 would be $144,542 in gold by Oct 2026, $32,947 if it had moved with the national FHFA Purchase-Only house-price index (through Aug 2026), and $17,097 if it had been rolled in 3-month Treasury bills (through Nov 2026). In January 2000 dollars those endings are $72,413, $16,602, and $8,565 respectively.

Data: World Bank Commodity Price Data (CC BY 4.0), FHFA HPI®, U.S. Treasury yields, BLS CPI-U. Historical illustration, not financial advice; ignores fees, storage and taxes. Details

These are not interchangeable “investments”

Gold here is a monthly average spot price. The housing figures apply a constant-quality national index to a notional $10,000; they are not the sale of a particular house and ignore leverage, taxes, insurance, maintenance, selling costs, and rent. The T-bill path is a wealth index we compute from official 3-month par yields, compounded monthly — not a published Treasury total-return product. Ending months also differ slightly because the source files are not updated on the same schedule.

The compare page lets you change the start date and add monthly contributions. The tables below fix $10,000 and four historically useful starts: 1991 (when the monthly FHFA Purchase-Only U.S. index begins), 2000, 2006 (near the housing-cycle peak), and 2015.

The same $10,000, four starting dates

Starting Jan 1991

$10,000 lump sum, no additional contributions, official monthly series as cited on each asset page.
Series	Latest month	Nominal end value	Multiple	CAGR	In start-month dollars
Gold	Oct 2026	$106,901	10.69×	6.9%	$42,705 (4.27×)
U.S. house prices (FHFA HPI)	Aug 2026	$45,045	4.50×	4.3%	$18,100 (1.81×)
U.S. 3-month Treasury bills (rolled)	Nov 2026	$26,045	2.60×	2.7%	$10,404 (1.04×)

Starting Jan 2000

$10,000 lump sum, no additional contributions, official monthly series as cited on each asset page.
Series	Latest month	Nominal end value	Multiple	CAGR	In start-month dollars
Gold	Oct 2026	$144,542	14.45×	10.5%	$72,413 (7.24×)
U.S. house prices (FHFA HPI)	Aug 2026	$32,947	3.29×	4.6%	$16,602 (1.66×)
U.S. 3-month Treasury bills (rolled)	Nov 2026	$17,097	1.71×	2.0%	$8,565 (0.86×)

Starting Jan 2006

$10,000 lump sum, no additional contributions, official monthly series as cited on each asset page.
Series	Latest month	Nominal end value	Multiple	CAGR	In start-month dollars
Gold	Oct 2026	$74,636	7.46×	10.2%	$43,926 (4.39×)
U.S. house prices (FHFA HPI)	Aug 2026	$20,665	2.07×	3.6%	$12,233 (1.22×)
U.S. 3-month Treasury bills (rolled)	Nov 2026	$14,466	1.45×	1.8%	$8,514 (0.85×)

Starting Jan 2015

$10,000 lump sum, no additional contributions, official monthly series as cited on each asset page.
Series	Latest month	Nominal end value	Multiple	CAGR	In start-month dollars
Gold	Oct 2026	$32,814	3.28×	10.6%	$22,760 (2.28×)
U.S. house prices (FHFA HPI)	Aug 2026	$21,691	2.17×	6.9%	$15,133 (1.51×)
U.S. 3-month Treasury bills (rolled)	Nov 2026	$12,932	1.29×	2.2%	$8,970 (0.90×)