Interesting piece from the Business Standard on how real estate stocks appreciated much more then real estate itself during the height of the market from Jan 2007 to Jan 2008 . In light of the past/current debacle we find ourselves in, it probably couldn’t hurt to pay more attention to this particular group of stocks to gain some kind of perspective and not get caught up in the frenzy often associated with market tops.  I’m surprised that real estate futures traded at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange are not more popular these days as these instruments can hedge portfolio risk, lock in home equity and otherwise offer a speculator way to take advantage of price trends in today’s real estate market.  For more info on real estate futures and options, please visit the CME page for real estate products here.