Real estate has cyclical returns in both public and direct/private investment vehicles. Using data over the past 40 years which represents both high and low-interest rate and return cycles, we examine real estate’s contribution to a mixed asset portfolio. Previous research has studied the inclusion of public real estate in a mixed-asset portfolio of stocks and bonds or private real estate in a mixed-asset portfolio and some studies have included both public and private/direct real estate in a mixed-asset portfolio, but usually for short time periods (Maximum 15 years). With 40 years of data now available in both of public REITs and direct “private” real estate (NCREIF), we use the mean/variance Markowitz efficient frontier methodology, to analyze changing allocations during different cycles in the last 4 decades.