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The alternative financialization of the German housing market

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  • Gertjan Wijburg
  • Manuel B. Aalbers

Abstract

While many European countries experienced a global housing boom in the early/mid-2000s, house prices and mortgage debt in Germany stagnated. Therefore, the German housing system is considered to be operating outside financialized capitalism. Despite Germany’s apparent stability, we argue that an alternative trajectory of financialization in the German housing market can be observed. This trajectory has followed three stages or ‘waves’. The first wave started around the time of German unification and is characterized by the failed attempt of West German banks to marketize and liberalize German housing finance. The second wave started in the late 1990s and is characterized by the ‘financialized privatization’ of many public housing associations and the speculative investments of private equity firms and hedge funds. The third wave started during the global financial crisis and is characterized by booming housing prices and the market entry of listed real estate companies.

Suggested Citation

  • Gertjan Wijburg & Manuel B. Aalbers, 2017. "The alternative financialization of the German housing market," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(7), pages 968-989, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:chosxx:v:32:y:2017:i:7:p:968-989
    DOI: 10.1080/02673037.2017.1291917
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    1. Òscar Jordà & Moritz Schularick & Alan M. Taylor, 2016. "The great mortgaging: housing finance, crises and business cycles," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 31(85), pages 107-152.
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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. Aveline-Dubach, Natacha, 2022. "The financialization of rental housing in Tokyo," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Caroline Dewilde, 2018. "Explaining the declined affordability of housing for low-income private renters across Western Europe," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(12), pages 2618-2639, September.
    4. Sandra Krapf & Michael Wagner, 2020. "Housing Affordability, Housing Tenure Status and Household Density: Are Housing Characteristics Associated with Union Dissolution?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(4), pages 735-764, September.
    5. Uwe Altrock, 2022. "Housing in Germany and the Rebirth of the High-Rise in Post-Modern Urban Design," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(4), pages 298-312.
    6. Natacha Aveline-Dubach, 2020. "The financialization of real estate in megacities and its variegated trajectories in East Asia [La financiarisation de l'immobilier dans les mégapoles d'Asie orientale et leurs trajectoires différe," Post-Print halshs-02517518, HAL.
    7. Enea Baselgia & Isabel Martínez, 2020. "A Safe Harbor: Wealth-Income Ratios in Switzerland over the 20th Century and the Role of Housing Prices," World Inequality Lab Working Papers halshs-03130618, HAL.
    8. Davies, Clementine, 2021. "Financialisation and rental housing: A case study of Berlin," IPE Working Papers 153/2021, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    9. Cody Hochstenbach & Richard Ronald, 2020. "The unlikely revival of private renting in Amsterdam: Re-regulating a regulated housing market," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(8), pages 1622-1642, November.
    10. Wu, Fulong, 2022. "Land financialisation and the financing of urban development in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    11. Michael Byrne, 2019. "The financialization of housing and the growth of the private rental sector in Ireland, the UK and Spain," Working Papers 201902, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    12. Sebastian Eichhorn & David Pehlke, 2022. "Unintended effects of regional planning in Germany," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 933-950, June.
    13. Cheng Rui Wei & Yu Wang, 2021. "Research on the Evaluation and Influence Mechanism of Public Housing Service Quality: A Case Study of Shanghai," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-22, January.
    14. Natacha Aveline-Dubach, 2020. "The Financialization of Rental Housing in Tokyo [La financiarisation des logements locatif à Tokyo]," Post-Print halshs-02440007, HAL.
    15. Isil Erol, 2019. "New Geographies of Residential Capitalism: Financialization of the Turkish Housing Market Since the Early 2000s," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 724-740, July.
    16. Eichhorn, Sebastian & Ehrhardt, Denise & Münter, Angelika & Behnisch, Martin & Jehling, Mathias, 2024. "Understanding land take by low-density residential areas: An institutionalist perspective on local planning authorities, developers and households," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    17. Uwe Altrock, 2022. "Housing in Germany and the Rebirth of the High-Rise in Post-Modern Urban Design," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 7(4), pages 298-312.
    18. Jose Torres-Pruñonosa & Pablo García-Estévez & Josep Maria Raya & Camilo Prado-Román, 2022. "How on Earth Did Spanish Banking Sell the Housing Stock?," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, March.
    19. Mirjam Büdenbender & Manuel B. Aalbers, 2019. "How Subordinate Financialization Shapes Urban Development: The Rise and Fall of Warsaw's Służewiec Business District," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(4), pages 666-684, July.
    20. Manuel B Aalbers & Anne Haila, 2018. "A conversation about land rent, financialisation and housing," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(8), pages 1821-1835, June.
    21. Enea Baselgia & Isabel Z. Martínez, 2022. "Wealth-Income Ratios in Free Market Capitalism: Switzerland, 1900-2020," CESifo Working Paper Series 9976, CESifo.

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