The Ultrashort Real Estate ETF offered by Proshares allows investors to position themselves to gain while the real estate sector falls in value.  The fund is designed to achieve daily investment results that correspond to twice the inverse of the Dow Jones U.S. Real Estate Index, which measures the performance of the real estate sector of the US equity markets.

That means that for every 1% that the DJ U.S. Real Estate Index falls, the Ultrashort Real Estate ETF will increase by 2%.  The fund will loose 2% for every 1% that the index increases in value.

To accomplish its objectives the fund managers take leveraged positions in a variety of vehicles that they expect to inversely correlate with the underlying index.  These vehicles include futures and options contracts.

The Ultrashort Real Estate ETF is geared towards investors who expect a decline in the DJ U.S. Real Estate Index and wish to speculate or hedge against such a move.