Matrix Blog

Hedging Your Housing Bet With An Index: Here’s How It Works

by Jonathan Miller | @jonathanmiller

April 17, 2006 | 12:01 am |

You’re worried that the law of gravity, as it applies to home prices, has been merely suspended, not repealed. Short of selling the attic (or a few outbuildings, if life has treated you very well), how can you hedge against a decline, if it ever comes?

The International Herald Tribune has a very good article on the upcoming launch of the housing index by the Chicago Merc. Actually, its more of a nuts and bolts article: Investing: New hedge on housing [IHT]

Its going to be very interesting to see how whether this strategy compartmentalizes risk to the consumer. Here are some previous posts.

What Do Cheddar Cheese, Nonfat Dry Milk and Housing Have In Common? [Matrix]
Another Exchange Joins The Housing Index Party [Matrix]

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About Jonathan Miller

Jonathan Miller is President and CEO of Miller Samuel Inc., a real estate appraisal and consulting firm he co-founded in 1986. He is a state-certified real estate appraiser in New York and Connecticut, performing court testimony as an expert witness in various local, state, and federal courts. He holds the Counselors of Real Estate (CRE) designation, is an Appraiser “A” Member of the Real Estate Board of New York, and is a member of RAC.
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Columns by Jonathan Miller

Forbes ('20-)

Appraisersblogs ('17-)

'Three Cents Worth' column 3CW ('05-'16)

When Curbed was acquired by Vox, my eleven years of 3CW chart art and column links were broken on Curbed NY, Curbed DC, Curbed Miami, Curbed Hamptons, Curbed LA, and Curbed Ski.

Many of my 3CW charts can be found here:
Curbed 3CW Full Chart Archive

Op-ed column ('14-'15)

'Economic Spotlight column ('03-'09)

New York Times experiment ('08-09')

Huffington Post (09')

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