Making Money in a Housing Bubble: S&P Launching Tradable Real Estate Indexes

Today's S&P announced the launching of 10 indexes that "will track housing prices in various regions of the U.S., as well as a composite index. The indexes, which plan to launch in April, will serve as the basis for futures and options contracts that will trade on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange." (source: WSJ, 23Mar)

The 10 separate "city-based" indexes will track: Boston, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York Commuter Index, San Diego, San Francisco and Washington D.C. (source: S&P)

These indexes will essentially allow people to go short or long real estate.

Here's an article that provides some additional details.