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

Author

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  • Tegan L Bergan

    (Centre for Western Sydney, Western Sydney University, Parramatta, NSW, Australia)

  • Emma R Power

    (School of Social Sciences, Western Sydney University, Penrith South, NSW, Australia)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Tegan L Bergan & Emma R Power, 2024. "Microgeographies of assetisation: Realising value of households and residents in co-living housing," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 56(5), pages 1385-1400, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:56:y:2024:i:5:p:1385-1400
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X241233102
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Chen, Jie & Wu, Fulong & Lu, Tingting, 2022. "The financialization of rental housing in China: A case study of the asset-light financing model of long-term apartment rental," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    2. Kevin Fox Gotham, 2009. "Creating Liquidity out of Spatial Fixity: The Secondary Circuit of Capital and the Subprime Mortgage Crisis," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(2), pages 355-371, June.
    3. Desiree Fields, 2017. "Unwilling Subjects of Financialization," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(4), pages 588-603, July.
    4. Louise Dorignon & Ilan Wiesel, 2022. "Five-Star Homes: Hotel Imaginaries and Class Distinction in Australia’s Elite Vertical Urbanism," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 112(7), pages 2111-2129, October.
    5. Fulong Wu & Jie Chen & Fenghua Pan & Nick Gallent & Fangzhu Zhang, 2020. "Assetization: The Chinese Path to Housing Financialization," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 110(5), pages 1483-1499, September.
    6. Megan Nethercote, 2020. "Build-to-Rent and the financialization of rental housing: future research directions," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(5), pages 839-874, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. White, Tim, 2024. "From tenants to subscribers: digital experiments in residential rent extraction," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 126131, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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