Think It's Too Late to Buy Realty Income Stock? Here's the Biggest Reason Why There's Still Time.

It's easy to love Realty Income (NYSE: O) in 2025. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) market index is down 10% year to date on April 17. Realty Income gained 7.2%. If you reinvested the company's monthly dividend payouts over this period, you'd have a 9.3% gain instead. The broader market's dividends barely made a difference over the same period, lifting the S&P 500's returns to 10.3%.

A lot of people invest in this real estate investment trust (REIT) to take advantage of that incredible dividend. There's nothing wrong with that approach, and you can lock in some of its highest yields in history by picking up a few shares right now.

After all, the recent price gain is actually a rebound from a long period of underperformance. Realty Income took a hard hit in the lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the stock fell far behind the broader market over the last five years:

O Total Return Level data by YCharts

But I'm not here to remind you of this unique Dividend King's 658 uninterrupted dividend payouts or its unusually inviting 5.5% yield. I just want to remind you that Realty Income's business is based on one of the most reliable wealth-creation tools in human history: high-quality real estate.

Real estate investing for the win

You know the old saw about McDonald's actually being a real estate business that also happens to sell some burgers. Have you seen the award-winning movie Crazy Rich Asians? The entire premise of that film is that long-term ownership of land creates incredible wealth, especially in important economic hot spots like Singapore.

Realty Income doesn't own central Singapore, but it holds 339 million square feet of real estate, mostly prime retail space, in eight countries. The addressable market is worth $5.4 trillion in America and another $8.5 trillion in Europe, where Realty Income has started to expand.

If cash is king, real estate is the emperor. It's really difficult to be "too late" to take advantage of an everlasting business opportunity.

Should you invest $1,000 in Realty Income right now?

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Anders Bylund has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Realty Income. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.