Variegated Experiences of Rental Housing Financialization : Residential Property Investors in France and Sweden
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This working paper contributes to the comparative research on the financialization of rental housing by investigating the private rental sectors in France and Sweden. It examines and discusses the role of institutional investors in each country’s rental market by using a comparative approach and drawing from an economic geographical and heterodox understanding of financialization as a variegated process. The paper uses secondary statistics, real estate transaction data, documents, and interviews to investigate the role of residential property investors in France’s and Sweden’s private rental markets. It finds that the different historical trajectories of the rental sectors have created distinctive opportunities for property investors in each country. The degree of public housing privatization, the level of corporate ownership of private rental housing, and the legal foundations are essential dynamics for why investments have occurred. In turn, Sweden has a high level of institutional investments in rental housing, while France has experienced less investments. Furthermore, institutional investors have expanded beyond metropolitan areas to medium-sized towns and municipalities in Sweden, whereas investments have mainly occurred in the larger cities in France.