When 2,000 Americans are asked their opinion about investing and a large chunk of them agree, it’s something worthy of note. According to a study done by the online magazine Sophisticated Investor, a cyber-publication dedicated to providing insight and analysis on a variety of investment topics to investors worldwide, real estate won out as the safest investment.

The group, aged between 35 and 65+, examined a number of investment options they consider to be the safest for long-term retirement investing, including real estate, stocks & bonds, bank savings accounts, fixed annuities, precious metals and U.S.-backed securities. The survey found that 22.4% of all respondents selected real estate as the safest long-term investment for retirement with a higher percentage resulting from the 45-54-year-old group (25.1%).

A press release by Newswire about the study says, “Given the current turbulent state of the financial markets and the global economy, the average American investor seems to be leaning towards more secure long-term investment options for retirement and real estate is currently viewed as the top choice in that regard.”

A spokesperson for Sophisticated Investor goes on to say, “Real Estate has come a long way since the last financial crisis where confidence in this asset class hit rock bottom. The real estate markets have been showing consistent positive results all over the country, and that could explain why Americans have such a positive outlook on this asset class.”

Stocks & bonds came in second at 18% and interestingly enough, when demographic filters were applied to the survey results, factoring young investors, between 35 and 44-years-old, 19.5% indicated this investment option was the safest with an even larger share of them being females. Gold and silver bullion garnered only 10.6%, yet when demographics filters were applied, males were the largest group voting for these metals as the safest long-term investment for retirement. Precious metals are usually considered safest during times of economic crises.

Bringing up the rear was U.S. Treasury issued securities at 9% — surprising in that these have long been the bastion of safety and security amid the turbulence of financial markets.