“One reason we have bubbles in the housing market is because there’s been no way to short housing,” the Yale professor tells Time.

“The ability to short is essential to an efficient market, otherwise there’s nothing to stop zealots from pricing things abnormally high.”

One version of the ETF (UMM) allows investors to buy the index.
“It’s like buying a house, except you don’t have to go through the real estate agent, take possession of a property, maintain it, rent it out,” Shiller says.

The other offering (DMM) provides an opportunity to short the index.

“Markets like this will also create an infrastructure for products,” Shiller says. “For example, insurers could issue home-equity insurance and then hedge themselves by taking a position in this market.”

Full Story: http://moneynews.newsmax.com/streettalk/shiller_short_housing/2009/05/15/214868.html

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DMM, UMM