A derivative in which the underlying is a real estate price or index. Historically, the New York Real Estate Securities Exchange began trading stocks and bonds in 1929, but the later plunge in real estate prices forced the SEC to intervene in 1941 where it stopped trading in real-estate related securities. In the last decade of the century, futures on residential and commercial real estate appeared on the markets (the London FOX property Futures Market). Later on, options and futures contracts on residential housing indexes for different cities, on a standalone and composite basis. Furthermore, different types of property indexes were introduced for real estate-based derivatives. However, lack of activity on exchanges was a major reason behind the unpopularity of this type of derivatives, so far.

Real estate derivatives are also referred to as property derivatives.