Speculating on London's housing future: The rise of global corporate landlords in ‘postcrisis’ urban landscapes

Abstract

[eng] London’s housing crisis is rooted in a neo-liberal urban project to recommodify and financialisehousing and land in a global city. But where exactly is the crisis heading? What futureis being prepared for London’s urban dwellers? How can we learn from other country andcity contexts to usefully speculate about London’s housing future? In this paper, we bringtogether recent evidence and insights from the rise of what we call ‘global corporate landlords’(GCLs) in ‘post-crisis’ urban landscapes in North America and Europe to argue thatLondon’s housing crisis—and the policies and processes impelling and intervening in it—could represent a key moment in shaping the city’s long-term housing future. We tracethe variegated ways in which private equity firms and institutional investors have exploiteddistressed housing markets and the new profitable opportunities created by states and supranationalbodies in coming to the rescue of capitalism in the USA, Spain, Ireland and Greecein response to the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. We then apply that analysis to emergingdevelopments in the political economy of London’s housing system, arguing that despitehaving a very low presence in the London residential property market and facing majorentry barriers, GCLs are starting to position themselves in preparation for potential entrypoints such as the new privatisation threat to public and social rented housing.