Home Ownership in a Global Era

The social and economic world around home ownership has changed considerably over the last half century or so. The rise of individual, mortgaged home ownership has been closely associated with so-called 'golden age' of post war capitalism which for many saw rising real incomes, widening employment opportunities and the spread of middle class lifestyles.  Home ownership, which was essentially a social project associated with notions of belonging, rootedness and the eclipse of...
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The social and economic world around home ownership has changed considerably over the last half century or so. The rise of individual, mortgaged home ownership has been closely associated with so-called 'golden age' of post war capitalism which for many saw rising real incomes, widening employment opportunities and the spread of middle class lifestyles.  Home ownership, which was essentially a social project associated with notions of belonging, rootedness and the eclipse of class has become fully embedded in the evolving global financial system. Forrest charts the transformation of home ownership - what was home ownership? What has it become? And where is it going?

With a strong international orientation this book explores the importance of home ownership in shaping the post war landscape of advantage and disadvantage. It will examine the uneven and divisive impacts of accumulated housing wealth and show how economic, geo-demographic and policy shifts have combined to produce very different housing outcomes for different population cohorts. With reference to increased market instability (including the most recent global financial crisis), climate change, falling rates of home ownership among younger groups and changing lifestyles and aspirations, the book looks towards the future in relation to contemporary patterns of risk, generational fractures and the role of home ownership in the shaping of new social divisions.

Home Ownership provides a rounded and up to date account of the social, economic and political dimensions of the growth of individual home ownership. Addressing the period since the second world war, it includes key theoretical debates of the 1970s and 1980s which revolved around issues of the impact of home ownership on class divisions, social stratification and political orientation and shift them into the global, neo-liberal context of the present day.