The ongoing financialisation of home ownership – new times, new contexts

Abstract

We used to think of a house as a home; now we think of it as an investment portfolio. This is the underlying theme of the four papers included in this special issue. The papers are all concerned with aspects of financialisation in the housing sphere. Fulong Wu examines the changing relationship between economic growth and housing commodification in post-reform China. Chua Beng-Huat analyses the growing policy tension in Singapore between maintaining property values and enabling affordable access to home ownership. Manuel Aalbers proposes four different periods in his account of the shifting relationship between national housing markets and the global economy. Finally, Susan Smith explores the paradoxical features of home ownership and the possibilities of a virtuous housing system.