Treading the bond and equities market is nothing short of walking on a minefield. There’s hardly anything that’s predictable about the market. Investors are now looking for alternative investments that aren’t as volatile as the share market and are easy to liquidate as well. Gold, silver, and real estate have been common investment options. But what does the trend for 2012 look like? Here are a few options that seem viable for this year:

Real Estate Investment: Real estate investment has been in the center of a storm for some time now, with a lot of people losing heavily. But this loss has only affected those who were guided by greed and shortsightedness. Those who invested wisely with sound advice have seen returns. This is especially true of commercial real estate investment. Financial gurus are already predicting a positive year ahead for the real estate market. An upturn seems to be round the corner after almost 5 years of slump.

Agriculture: Agriculture shall always remain a very good long term investment option. The threat of shortage of food supplies and the alarming rate at which food inflation seems to be growing necessitates the need to invest in agriculture. This is especially true of developing countries where short sighted development strategies are likely to create a strain on existing agricultural resources. There are expert predictions that food production will have to be increased by almost 70 per cent to feed a population of 9 billion people by 2050.

Metals: Over the past 100 years or so, gold has performed incredulously. Not to be left behind, other precious metals like silver, palladium, platinum, copper, and tin have all soured. In fact, the price of silver was up by more than 84% in 2011. There are reports stating that rhodium too is a viable option.

Besides these, other alternative investment options include fine art, fine wine and timber. The viability of the first two is doubtful because these are often associated with the rich and in an unstable economy, there wouldn’t be too many people looking for these options. Timber, on the other hand remains a good option. With the housing market seeing a positive trend, and the government trying its best to block illegal sources of timber, it makes sense to choose timber as an option. Before you invest in alternative investments, make sure that you read detailed predictions of each of these options thoroughly.

Alternative investments have always remained a viable option for people looking beyond the equities and share market. The author of this article writes about different investment options including commercial real estate investment.