Read on Twitter
Maybe... the way most economists tend think about the world is part of the problem? There's a lot of evidence out there on the impacts of the financialization of housing. All that's required is putting aside the ideology and the snark, and looking for it. https://twitter.com/TomDavidoff/status/1361096102745841667
"we find that large corporate owners of single-family rentals...are 8% more likely than small landlords to file eviction notices... Another analysis identifies large private equity investors and finds that some firms have uniquely high eviction rates" https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2893552
"The entry of international investments funds into the real estate market in Ireland...have as consequence the displacement of a growing number of low-income households whose only option for accommodation is the private rental market" https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264275119314556?casa_token=9kPRt-neiOUAAAAA:CjKbOpmFs6pD7bvn90pgGUF7o9xh6mE25YOjSAGR2Hh7K4buyXLPLXUIro_7yUdqteOzTuc#bb0315
"analysis of properties in Barcelona...owned by Blackstone...found that rental flats aim to extract on average 38 per cent higher rents than the neighbourhood average and 4.56 euros more per square metre on average" https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673037.2020.1769034?casa_token=C8gl3P8MkTEAAAAA%3AyZmdCnv-mLLKXlCDOlyNt_7oASGpTC7k8lyvmOB9WZduxh0_0PBqbocts6fDC0YLhTbm1YOZGg
Among others: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02673037.2019.1632813?casa_token=SYZv1gbRCwAAAAAA%3A9EOLBV22-sBc5je-NmqKsbVxL9QXjmteKJQPISnRdhY7EwmOlzZTHMZ7fngTSp2ewjDgUfs6fw https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-2427.12517?casa_token=xVSxAtXyNkcAAAAA%3AHbzErqsDMSg9wRq9HqIYG9VJ9V03fKMvwx5Z9w7P0YLvvvaYsMwd3Pj6N2YUQx3PU6LbFIo4Y56w https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-2427.12518?casa_token=y-F34YxCQuIAAAAA%3AOQqbZnLJVdlnDbYTDrcbONON9fCTnroejbG-GJPzAFmi1JyMeT9sLIjzOBc2tuM27euh1q5pUfVP https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00130095.2017.1397492?casa_token=zs-bc8uHytEAAAAA%3A6IzfGXHKTg6n8ZV3vsnwZPxqY_W7YvkFm7hIiWj5dS7-QkdnNH6OGvhVmOCtra1MYw1gNW_Vtw https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02723638.2019.1603556?casa_token=bnTJY7xLOVcAAAAA%3AZpcYAGgrVSaRQIMDbHYEFpQHDJrHcDxpCnao4nE5jLBZa5ORgviLttkv_ISYgz_o2CjtCkPHHA https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-2427.12062?casa_token=pAy355qnkSgAAAAA%3AzcgZGSl1EZ197ObrBL7O3dpPxbedjU1stGoTnTaJ-JS3xCLTTbGgAEvswVRHXNNXioUFGgVgLymj https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1468-2427.12522?casa_token=LYWIIKXkKeUAAAAA%3AE5rrO2cinqMXOgiYSb0STsbn7iETyKYyCt-RXJ2KycyGJ1_C93Qc90wkMBIJp9WNKgVd0btbESkr Indeed it's a whole area of inquiry with a lot of theory, evidence and internal debates of its own
You ask if various events constitute financialization. But it's a long-term process of change within the housing system. A pattern, not a single event. It's a direction, not a static state. https://twitter.com/TomDavidoff/status/1361149263455997955?s=20
Direction is towards corporate landlords owning more housing; less social housing; less secure tenancy rights; securitised mortgages; financial institutions that really have nothing to do w/ housing owning more housing; financial firms have more power to shape housing policy; etc
You ask when landlords didn't treat housing a commodity. Commodified housing is ofc one hallmark of capitalism. But commodification & financialisation are variable processes. Housing can be more or less commodified in different varities of capitalism https://twitter.com/TomDavidoff/status/1361180369161084930?s=20
In the late '70s, when more than 40% of Brits lived in council housing, the housing system was less commodified than today, when less than 8% do. Housing in NYC was less financialised pre-2008 than it is now that REITs & private equity spent billions buying 100s of 1000s of units
Corporate landlords are much more powerful than the 'mom and pop' variety. They can follow different strategies. They file evictions at a higher rate. They're more adept at getting regulations changed. They're more willing to harass tenants and don't fear regulatory reprisals.
To say talking about financialisation is an “excuse for self-styled progressives to oppose letting more people live in their neighborhood” when corporate landlords are evicting 1000s every month (i.e. not letting them live in their neighbourhood) is just uninformed and offensive
There are lots of open questions about financialisation, but it clearly refers to a real thing that matters. It's just bad-faith idle snark to say that there's no definition of it when you've not bothered to look. Twitter is filled with bad-faith idle snark, why add to it?
