If you had bought Apple stock instead of, say, the first iPod in 2001 (around $300), you'd be significantly wealthier today.

Paragon Real Estate Group took this scenario a step further. It imagines your rate of return on an investment of $200,000 in 2012 that you decided to sell in 2014, had you decided to invest in: gold, a bank CD, Apple stock, other stocks, or a Bay Area home. 

The results:

Investment Return_RE vs Stock

Paragon Real Estate Group

The chart takes into consideration real estate closing costs, taxes, and other fees. The Apple stock would have appreciated 44%, the gold investment would have lost you 17%, and putting $200,000 toward a $1 million home in the Bay Area would have by far been the best investment: 118%. 

Paragon notes that the timing of the investment has a lot to do with the results:

In this analysis, the chosen buy date was January 2, 2012 when the financial and housing markets were poised for big rebounds. Picking a different purchase date, such as January 2, 2008, would completely alter the results. 

Home prices in the Bay Area have soared recently; the median sale price in San Francisco is around $1 million.

Of course hindsight is 20-20, and the information in this chart is an approximation, so take it with a grain of salt (not least of which, because it was put together by a real estate group).

(Via Curbed SF)