Can investing in a property be a good bet for retirement portfolio?

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

buying a second house. He intends to use it for his retirement in the hope that the value will appreciate and rental income will support his household. The apartment adjacent to the building in which he is currently living is up for sale.

There is also a lucrative offer to buy a vacation villa on the outskirts of the city for a similar price. He has another 18 years of working life ahead of him and is keen to ensure that he plans and provides well for his retirement. He has a few investments in shares and mutual funds, which he intends to liquidate to partly fund this purchase.

The remaining amount will be funded by a home loan, which he hopes to repay in 10 years. How should he decide between the villa and the flat keeping in mind the primary objective of retirement?

It seems that given his current financial status, Siddharth will not be left with much of a corpus after this purchase. He is banking on the second house to grow in value to a sizeable corpus, if required.

Siddharth might be better off buying the apartment close to his current home for the convenience it would offer for upkeep, maintenance and regular rental income. The villa on the outskirts might remain under-utilised during his working years, and require a higher investment in upkeep as a vacation rental. It may also fetch a lower and less steady rental income after his retirement.