Open Collections

An empirical examination : managing mortgage payment risk with options

University of British Columbia

Canadian real estate investors who use variable rate mortgage financing assume a great deal of risk with regard to the cash flows resulting from the mortgage. These investors may wish to reduce the risk of rising mortgage payments without giving up the opportunity to benefit from lower mortgage payments. The introduction in the U.S. of trading in T-bond futures options and Canadian dollar futures options may allow investors to do this. The hypothesis of this thesis is that a real estate investor using variable rate mortgage financing can use T-bond futures options, possibly in conjunction with Canadian dollar futures options, to effectively hedge against the risk of rising mortgage payments. Chapters 2 and 3 examine the basics about futures and options, respectively. In Chapter 4, the duration based approach to hedging (i.e. risk reduction) with T-bond futures (and options) is explained. The rationale for the use of Canadian dollar futures (and options) is detailed in Chapter 5. Their inclusion in the hedge portfolio is based upon the interest rate parity theorem. A thorough literature review was performed. Chapter 6 contains a summary of the relevant theories exploring reasons why hedging may be beneficial. Empirical studies have been confined to the use of futures, rather than options. These are summarized in Chapter 7.

Text

2010-06-29

For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/26055

Business Administration

University of British Columbia

Graduate