Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Buying the Future of Real Estate

The Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE) Futures Exchange (CFE) recently announced that it plans to launch futures contracts based upon median prices in the NAR existing-home sales data. Through a licensing agreement with NAR, CFE has created five new futures contracts designed to track the median price of existing-home sales nationally and in four distinct regions within the United States. CFE plans to launch the new contracts in the second quarter of 2006, pending regulatory approval.

“With the U.S. housing market valued at nearly $20 trillion, real estate is not only the hottest topic of conversation, it is an asset class unto itself that is arguably one of the most important segments of the U.S. economy,” said CBOE Chairman and CEO William J. Brodsky.

"CBOE gave careful consideration to the development of this contract to ensure that it had practical application for hedging as well as speculating, offering a chance to participate in the real estate market to a wide range of investors--whether your outlook is regional or national, bullish or bearish.”

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