London and New York as a safe deposit box for the transnational wealth elite

Fernández, Rodrigo; Hofman, Annelore; Aalbers, Manuel B.

doi:10.1177/0308518x16659479

Cited by 196 publications

(140 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Rather, what we are seeing in London is the result of policy-generated, long-running and growing wealth inequalities made possible by deregulation and permissive capital accumulation regimes. At the same time, the impact of extending global wealth-elites, or what Fernandez et al (2016) refer to as 'transnational wealth elites', for the built environment and the socioeconomic makeup of London, is profound and also likely to be long lasting. What is needed then is an analysis able to capture these two realities -the longue dure´e of established money power and the more recent 'event' of global elite-wealth incursion.…”

Section: Elites and Urban Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

Elite Formation, Power and Space in Contemporary London

Atkinson

Parker

Burrows

2017

Theory, Culture & Society

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In this article we examine elite formation in relation to money power within the city of London. Our primary aim is to consider the impact of the massive concentration of such power upon the city's political life, municipal and shared resources and social equity. We argue that objectives of city success have come to be identified and aligned with the presence of wealth elites while wider goals, of access to essential resources for citizens, have withered. A diverse national and global wealth-elite is drawn to a city with an almost unique cultural infrastructure, fiscal regime and ushering butler class of politicians. We consider how London is being made for money and the monied -in physical, political and cultural terms. We conclude that the conceptualization of elites as wealth and social power formations operating within urban spatial arenas is important for capturing the nature of new social divisions and changes.

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Section: Elites and Urban Lifementioning

confidence: 99%

Elite Formation, Power and Space in Contemporary London

Atkinson

Parker

Burrows

2017

Theory, Culture & Society

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“…While academic discussion and the media continue to focus on how the super-rich use top-end property as a safe haven to deposit money (Fernandez et al, 2016), the operation of that niche is somewhat different for properties worth less than £2 million. For example, the transactions of many properties at the top of the market are often carried out through companies registered in tax havens, including the British Virgin Islands.…”

Section: Transnational Elite and Middleclass Investment In Londonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Looking for big ‘fry’: The motives and methods of middle-class international property investors

Atkinson

2017

Urban Studies

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Anxieties about the effects of international property investment in world cities like London have mainly focused on super-rich investors and corporate vehicles that have generated price inflation of assets and accelerated exclusion from an already expensive market. In fact, many international investors in the city's housing market are middle-class individuals, and focusing on Hong Kong as an emblematic example of such processes, we examine their motives and the products offered to them by important investment intermediaries. We find that an important rationale for these investments lies in local class-based uncertainties and existential anxieties concerning the future of Hong Kong itself. We focus on the cultural roots of these investor rationalities but also consider the role of investment intermediaries who have helped bolster confidence while shielding investors from the consequences of their aggregated market power -concerns in London over household displacement from foreign investment. We suggest that what may seem to be the predatory search to 'fry' property ( ), a Hongkonger colloquialism referring to the search for high performing investments, should also be understood as actions anchored in and generated by the habitus of the Hong Kong middle class whose lives have been moulded by historical geopolitical uncertainty and worries about its longer-term social positioning and security.

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“…Territorial boundaries and citizenships are defining criteria in these policy settings, and a form of nation‐state‐centrism often frames ensuing public and policy discussions about foreign real estate investment (Rogers & Dufty‐Jones, ; Wong, ). Thus, there is a spatial politics to the hyper‐commodification of housing in Sydney that extends beyond the city and nation (Fernandez et al , ; Ley, , ; Madden & Marcuse, ; Rogers, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographies of hyper‐commodified housing: foreign capital, market activity, and housing stress

Rogers

Nelson

Wong

2018

Geographical Research

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The latest manifestation of Asian‐led foreign real estate investment in some global cities is contributing to housing becoming a liquid, global asset. Drawing on empirical data about Sydneysiders’ reported levels of real estate market activity, housing stress, and views about foreign real estate investment, we found that those who are financially invested in Sydney's local real estate market are generally more supportive of the presence of foreign investors and investment than are those not invested in that market. We also found that there were no significant comparative differences in beliefs about foreign investment between those who are in housing stress and those who are not. On the strength of those findings, we ask whether a degree of commonality is developing around a set of ideological reference points related to the commodification of housing. As housing in global cities is increasingly commodified and financialized, these ideological reference points could be boosting its commodification across boundaries of cultural difference and political jurisdiction. We conclude by suggesting the need for a new line of inquiry through which scholars could investigate the politics of globalised hyper‐commodified housing in order to expose the ideological reference points that serve to bolster the commodification of housing.

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London and New York as a safe deposit box for the transnational wealth elite

Cited by 196 publications

References 48 publications

Elite Formation, Power and Space in Contemporary London

Elite Formation, Power and Space in Contemporary London

Looking for big ‘fry’: The motives and methods of middle-class international property investors

Geographies of hyper‐commodified housing: foreign capital, market activity, and housing stress

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