Housing Wealth and Housing Inequalities

Over the last two decades, housing has become a key driver of wealth accumulation and growing inequalities. On the one hand, increasing numbers of corporate actors have acquired housing assets in the context of uncertainty elsewhere in the economy, with flows of capital into housing intensifying along with increasing opportunities to extract rents. On the other hand, households have continued to leverage themselves financially in order to acquire homes in the pursuit of economic security over the life course. Property ownership, however, has become increasingly polarised in the face of rising prices and demand that have diminished access, especially for new and lower-income households, and concentrated ownership among older and more economically established families. Moreover, the foundations of housing wealth accumulation are being reshaped by economic volatility, demographic change, geopolitical uncertainty, and environmental risks, generating new disparities both between owners and non-owners and within homeowner populations themselves. These dynamics have driven intensifying social, spatial and economic inequalities in alignment with housing market conditions and household wealth/debt positions.

In this session, we invite contributions that examine the changing relationship between housing, wealth accumulation, and social inequality across different geographical and institutional contexts. We are particularly interested in research that explores how housing markets shape the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and risks among households, as well as how these processes intersect with broader transformations in finance, welfare systems, urban development, and demographic change.