Wealthfront and Fundrise Disagree on Real Estate Investment Approaches

Andy Rachleff, the CEO of Wealthfront argues that managed real estate funds perform poorly compared to low cost ETFs like Vanguard’s REIT Index Fund; Fundrise’s CEO Benjamin Miller responded in a blog post, writing “Less competitive, inefficient markets mean an investor can generally buy comparable assets at lower prices than efficient markets. With Shiller price-to-earnings (PE) ratios at all-time historic highs only seen in 1929 and 2001, more than ever investors need to find ways to invest at a reasonable cost basis.”; Miller also argues that long term investors are paying a premium for the liquidity that ETFs offer, something that these investors don’t need. Source