Abstract
In urban studies, the financialization of housing has become a key aspect in understanding the affordability problems faced by households around the world. The financial interests involved in housing production shift the focus from the provision of a residential habitat to the creation of long-term fixed income capital. However, these studies of high interest to architects have not been studied from the perspective of design and spatial typologies of financialization. This study reviews architectural typology using planimetric information of houses whose main objective is to become profitable products. Based on the critical review of 37 high-rise housing projects in the commune of Estacion Central in Santiago de Chile, a matrix of analysis of the main characteristics of studios and one-bedroom flats is constructed to describe the financed housing unit category in a verticalization model. The research revised official sources for each project, reviewing plans, permits and environmental impact statements that describe the works and their specific analysis. The case study is of high interest because they were installed in a low-income commune of Greater Santiago, capitalized the sector by attracting new residents from higher-income communes, and transformed the urban landscape through residential buildings that are on average 30 stories high. As part of the results, 24 typologies are extracted then summarized in two general types of flats for financial speculation. Also, each case was analyzed by its financial value using the NPV and IRR techniques for economic assessment of investments exposing how profitable these types of projects are. The investment in real estate capital has an impact on the design and formation of typologies arranged for financial speculation with housing. The results of this research illuminate a discussion on the role of architects in the development of housing for financial purposes and propose a discussion on the importance of understanding the architectural aesthetic of financing as a highly relevant disciplinary problem.
Highlights
Leilani Farha argues that the financialization of housing occurs when it becomes a vehicle for investment to create wealth by assuming a commodity status instead of a social good which undermines its role as a human right [1]
From an initial statistical study based on information from the Santiago Real Estate Registry, the Environmental Evaluation Service, and specialized literature, a set of projects with their respective architectural typologies were drawn up to determine the characteristics of housing models prepared for financialization by investors
These buildings are of great interest for the analysis of financialization because, first, their verticalization is developed in a space delimited between 5 de Abril Avenue, Las Rejas, Ecuador and Ruiz-Tagle Street, completing about 180 hectares for the location of 28,164 housing units, on 135,330 m2 of land, for a declared investment of nearly $900 million, executed by different private companies in a central district of Santiago, which provides a high value of the location Estación Central is the 9th over 34 districts with higher multidimensional poverty level based on CASEN 2017
Summary
Leilani Farha argues that the financialization of housing occurs when it becomes a vehicle for investment to create wealth by assuming a commodity status instead of a social good which undermines its role as a human right [1]. Specific effects are produced on the typologies that characterize a house that has been designed to be an investment vehicle over a space for developing a habitat for families and individuals. Civil Engineering and Architecture 9(3): 611-624, 2021 typological characterization of financed housing in Chile This analysis focuses on housing projects developed by the real estate market that, based on the behavior of some consumer groups and the industry itself, define typologies whose main objective is to buy-to-let [7]. From an initial statistical study based on information from the Santiago Real Estate Registry, the Environmental Evaluation Service, and specialized literature, a set of projects with their respective architectural typologies were drawn up to determine the characteristics of housing models prepared for financialization by investors. The interest on the relationship between financial institutions and real estate is a matter of relevant interest in the recent international literature [10]
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