New trajectories in private rental housing

Abstract

This chapter explores developments in private renting in the advanced economies since the turn of the century. In many advanced economies, the private rental housing sector has either grown, changed in fundamental respects or both. The timing, pace and extent of these developments have varied between countries, but most have experienced some or all of the following: increasing financialisation of rental housing; decline in homeownership and rise in private renting; an increase in landlordism among better-off households and growth in ‘portfolio landlords’; an influx of international property investors; growth of large-scale corporate landlords, including pension funds and residential property companies; emergence of purpose-built student accommodation blocks as a new international investment asset class; the rise of PropTech online letting and management firms; loss of rental homes to the short-stay accommodation market in city centres and tourist localities via online platforms such as Airbnb; and a rental affordability crisis among low and moderate income households. In some jurisdictions, reforms have been implemented to introduce or tighten rent regulation. Taken together, these and related developments reflect profound changes in the ways in which private rental housing is financed, produced, owned, consumed, and perceived in the early 21st century.