Due to the rise in property values in my area I was able to sell the home and gain enough capital to both buy a new home and invest in a rental property.

The U.S. government is relying on those debt payments as well as the consumer spending to unwind their books from the last few rounds of QE in addition to the supposed inflation that was to occur after such QE which never came.

I would be careful about investing unless a property is a 100% sure thing and don't believe that everyone is making money just because the prices of real estate keeps rising.

Prices seem to be rising but there is so much inventory.

It would seem to me that as college tuition has a built in inflation factor, student housing (provided that quality is kept up) might be able to enjoy a portion of that inflation factor.Perhaps offering cleaning services, food preparation, partnering with local car sharing... anything to add value to the renters..?

Rising costs and regulatory burdens at all levels of government depress apartment development and rehabilitation nationwide.

If your mortage interest is greater than inflation or significantly above what you can make investing in an index fund such as VTI, then paying down that mortgage could make economic sense. 

There's still a massive housing shortage so there's no reason to think properties won't continue to sell, price probably just need to come down a bit given we've hit the peak of affordability in many places with rates going up and inflation.

The price was negotiated as "lot value" only, and low enough to be a deal when prices were rising quickly.

“Rising mortgage rates are exacerbating affordability issues that have been driving people out of expensive coastal metros for the past few years,” said Redfin chief economist Daryl Fairweather.