Late Neoliberalism: The Financialization of Homeownership and Housing Rights

Abstract Over the last few decades we have witnessed a global U ‐turn in prevailing housing and urban policy agendas, spread around the world by the driving forces of globalization and neoliberalism. The new paradigm was mainly based on the withdrawal of states from the housing sector and the implementation of policies designed to create stronger and larger market‐based housing finance models. The commodification of housing, together with the increased use of housing as an investment asset within a globalized financial market, has profoundly affected the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing. Taking the W orld B ank's 1993 manifesto as a starting point and the subprime crisis as its first great…