CME Group, the world's largest and most diverse exchange, announced that S&P/GRA Commercial Real Estate Indices (SPCREX)(TM) futures and options contracts will begin trading October 28. The contracts will enable investors and speculators to protect or gain exposure to the $5.3 trillion U.S. commercial real estate market.
Ten quarterly cash-settled contracts based on property type and geography will be available. The listings include a national composite index; indexes on property types consisting of retail, office, apartments and warehouse properties; and five U.S. regional indexes covering Desert Mountain West, Mid-Atlantic South, Northeast, Midwest and Pacific West. SPCREX data is based on recorded transactions and published monthly. Trading will occur on CME Globex(R), the exchange's electronic trading platform, from 5 p.m. to 2 p.m. Chicago time the following day Sunday through Thursday. For more information, please visit http://www.cme.com/commercialrealestate.
U.S. commercial real estate as an asset class makes up 35.3% of the global commercial real estate market, which is valued at $15 trillion. The first five years of SPCREX futures contracts will be listed on a March quarterly cycle.
In May 2006, CME Group launched futures and options on futures based on U.S. housing markets in ten cities and one composite index. For more information on the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices futures and options, please visit http://www.cme.com/housing.
CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is the world's largest and most diverse exchange. Formed by the 2007 merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), CME Group serves the risk management needs of customers around the globe. As an international marketplace, CME Group brings buyers and sellers together on the CME Globex electronic trading platform and on its trading floors. CME Group offers the widest range of benchmark products available across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, and alternative investment products such as weather and real estate. CME Group is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ under the symbol "CME."
