Bottom 50% own their own homes? Or this 55% real estate includes rent payments?
Houses in Kentucky cost maybe 50k a pop. Not that hard to own homes in flyover states. The equity number must include private business interests. I don’t see a separate entry for that.
It’s of net worth based on the label of portfolio size. I’m not surprised at all. Even if a billionaire owns a few homes they are a small percent of their total net worth. The top 1% mostly get there through starting a business, so most of their wealth will be equity whether it’s private or public.
I recalled RE in this type of study refers to owner-occupied houses, not rental houses which is regarded as a business i.e. equities.
Real estate can only get you so far on the league table. The rapid appreciation period after the RE bubble bursted is a thing in the past. I am thinking maybe it’s time to pivot, say to buy some local businesses, many sell for PE of 2 to 3. A PE of 3 implies a 33% cap rate. No real estate in the world offers that kind of return. Need to find something that doesn’t interrupt my sleep schedule though… 
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Difficult to find those business . Good ones are never for sale
Wealthy people have a lot of cash. Buffet has around 30%. The chart does 12%. That’s $1.2m on a $10m net worth.