Microgeographies of assetisation: Realising value of households and residents in co-living housing

Abstract

Financialised capitalism’s proclivity for assets helps explain growing investment into new housing asset-classes, including co-living, Build-to-Rent and Purpose-Built Student Housing. To date, research has focused on institutional and financial settings driving the assetisation of property. Less common is research into the microgeographies of assetisation. In this paper, we contribute to research on the microgeographies of assetisation by examining how households and their inhabitants are actively reworked within co-living housing. Our analysis identifies how households are rendered more investable and profitable, demonstrating how assetisation processes can exceed the bounds of real estate property as an arena of value. Assetisation is intimately navigated in microgeographic sites, with implications for residents’ housing security and domestic experiences. Our analysis draws on research conducted between 2016 and 2022 that charted the emergence, maturation and transformation of the co-living sector in New York City, San Francisco and Australia. The paper identifies the three key practices through which co-living providers realise value from households and residents: (1) Running an asset-light business model, allowing profit from property outside the risks of ownership. (2) Rescripting residents as subscribed members rather than legal tenants. (3) Curating household forms, delivering experiences through hospitality-like services and capitalising on the residents as community members to generate maximum profit. This work supports economic and housing geographers to go beyond conceptualisations of financialisation as a ‘monolithic and inevitable process’, shining a light on microgeographic sites, actors and practices holding up wider financial ideologies.