“You can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar,” someone from the real estate industry might say. That is, you can’t go wrong buying property. The proverb is not always true, of course.
 
“You can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar, the old adage goes” was cited in print in 1997. The expression has been used in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. It’s not known who originated the saying.
 
“Safe as houses” is a similar saying.
     
 
Google News Archive
10 November 1987, Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, “Apres-Crash luxuries are essential” by Keith Dunstan, pg. 19, col. 1:
My friendly real estate man tapped the side of his nose and said: “Son, you never go wrong with bricks and mortar.”
 
Google Books
Investors Chronicle
Volume 80
1987
Pg. 36:
You can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar, the old adage goes.
 
Google Books
Me and Mine:
The Triumph of the New Individualism?
By John Rentoul and Jane Ratford
London: Unwin Hyman
1989
Pg. 65:
‘And I was always taught that you can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar. The house has doubled its price in three years, which is pretty good,’ said Mr H, Basildon home owner ...
     
2 July 1989, South China Morning Post, “Valuable—at right time” by Peter Sherwood, Sunday Spectrum, pg. 2, col. 6:
“Believe me,” they pleaded as one, “you can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar—in the long term.”
 
Google Groups: aus.invest
Sydney property auction clearance down to 40%   
Xylord
11/25/03
(...)
The big shift into rental property is built on the average Aussie’s conviction that you can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar. Property prices will just keep rising - always have, always will.
 
Housepricecrash.co.uk
Monday, Sep 29, 2008
‘You can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar.’
MoneyWeek: The most dangerous financial cliché in history
‘You can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar,’ they said. As another UK lender goes under, we’re seeing again how how mistaken that is. And despite all the bail-outs, the crisis isn’t over yet. Property prices are still falling, and it will be a long time before they stop.
Posted by damien @ 11:46 AM
 
NZCity (New Zealand)
You Can Indeed Go Wrong with Bricks and Mortar
I first heard people saying, “You can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar” years ago, when I lived in the US. I bet the saying isn’t quite as common there these days, now that millions of people have, indeed, lost huge amounts because of property.
21 March 2009
Yet we still hear that untrue “truism” in New Zealand. And in the last few weeks, as some people are trying to convince us that the house price slump is over, it keeps popping up.
 
Twitter
Noel Brodie
‏@noelbrodie
‘Get a beach front property’ they said
‘You can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar’ they said!
8:36 AM - 3 Jul 2014
 
Facebook
Loan Market Marios Rokka
July 5, 2015 ·
You CAN go wrong with Bricks and Mortar. I think David Koch makes a great point that Houses aren’t as “safe as houses” when you don’t see all of the costs and expenses associated in buying and keeping them. Start with the right mortgage and make sure the costs (including the debt) are always reviewed.
 
Twitter
JPW Real Estate
‏@JPWNews
”“You can’t go wrong with bricks and mortar…”” by @siamkidd on @LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/you-cant-go-wrong-bricks-mortar-siam-kidd …
7:25 AM - 21 Jul 2015