CBOE to trade home price options

The CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) announced today that it plans to launch National Association of Realtors Existing-Home Sales Median Price futures contracts. Through a licensing agreement with the National Association of Realtors (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.

The new contracts will be traded electronically, via CBOEdirect, and will be cleared through the triple-A rated Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). At expiration, the futures contracts will be cash-settled, meaning settlement will result in the delivery of a cash amount based on the final settlement price, determined by the surveys conducted by the NAR. See http://cfe.cboe.com/ for more information