Yaser Anwar_

Why Timber Outperforms Stocks, Bonds and Even Commodities

John,

One of the reasons timber outperforms the rest is 'cause of its wide uses by construction companies not only for residential reits but also commercial. Secondly, the world consumes an enormous amount of paper & raw materials, again, timber comes into handy.

3rd point, it is uncorrelated to stocks & bonds, and has low volatility, hence it outperforms.

Your point about whether it will continue to beat or not, is valid, past performance is not indicitive of future performance but i believe its low volatility & broad range of uses will continue to outperform the rest of asset classes.

Hope this answers your question.