Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 7:20 am
Real estate used to be a measure of wealth in the twentieth century, where people used to count the number of bricks they owned!!! 
Thanks , good to knowicet-tea wrote:Real" is an old form of "royal" = belonging to the king, and this usage grew out of the system of fiefdom/vasssalage.
Kings owned the land under their control. They gave it to selected individuals who would support them with tax money and with troops to defend the land. So the holders of the land had their estates by virtue of the king's (roi) gift.
Source : answerbag.com
