CME Group announced that S&P/GRA Commercial Real Estate Indices (SPCREX)™ 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®, the exchange's electronic trading platform, from 5 p.m. to 2 p.m. Chicago time the following day Sunday through Thursday.

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.