Real estate markets represent a very large proportion of the total wealth in developed countries. Yet, the risk management tools available for hedging real-estate risk are very much in their infancy and have problems ranging from illiquidity of trading to lack of theoretical development in terms of modelling. In this paper, we surveyed the set of financial instruments available for the management of risks arising in European property markets. Given the incomplete character of real-estate markets, we advocate a suitable pricing and hedging framework.
A special place is dedicated to mortgage-backed securities which require structured swaps capable of handling the embedded prepayment risk and default risk. We discuss some of the risk management problems faced by asset managers of RMBS deals and we suggest some solutions.