Managing overaccumulation
China's new affordable rental housing programme and its financialization through Reits
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4827439 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Bo Li (0000-0002-7801-0319, Freie Universität Berlin), Manuel B Aalbers (0000-0001-6640-0988, KU Leuven), Jie Chen (0000-0002-9254-4413, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, corresponding author), Sebastian Kohl (0000-0002-8358-6021, Freie Universität Berlin) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue | 8 |
| Pages | 1069-1095 |
| Publication date | 2025-09-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Environment and Planning A Economy and Space (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0308-518X • E-ISSN: 1472-3409 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0308518x251360878 |
| OpenAlex | W4413991941 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 63 |
Social housing has been experiencing a global trend towards residualization, primarily targeting vulnerable groups through non-market methods. Meanwhile, it is undergoing a parallel trend of financialization, where it is increasingly treated as a financial asset for trading and speculation. In contrast, social rented housing in China is transitioning to a mass model and embracing financialization, exemplified by the government's proactive promotion of the Affordable Rental Housing (ARH) programme and the introduction of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) for social housing investment. However, the combination of seemingly non-profit social housing with profit-driven REITs remains an understudied phenomenon. This paper addresses this gap by drawing on theories of overaccumulation and state entrepreneurialism. We explore the rationales driving the promotion of ARH and ARH-REITs and investigate the state's role in facilitating this process. We argue that China's development and financialization of ARH is increasingly adopted as a national strategy to mitigate the overaccumulation crisis in the homeownership sector through a 'spatial fix' wherein capital circulates within the secondary circuit rather than switches between circuits of capital. This strategy involves establishing legal frameworks and institutions to make ARH profitable, stimulating demand by expanding target groups to include middle- to high-income 'talents' with additional benefits, stimulating supply by reducing costs and political directives, and promoting financial innovation and credit enhancement. We conclude with concerns about the potential long-term 'crisis-magnifying' effects of this spatial fix and its implications for vulnerable households
Affordable housing · Business · China · Economic growth · Economics · Financial system · Financialization · Political science · Real estate · Real estate investment trust · Rental housing · Renting · Housing Market and Economics · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Urban Planning and Governance · Finance
From financialization to financial reproduction
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Secondary cities as an optimal place to settle down in China? The role of housing, employment and amenities in recent migrants' leaving intention across the urban hierarchy
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Spatial Fixes, Temporal Fixes and Spatio‐ Temporal Fixes
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Renovate to rent” as a spatio-temporal fix under state entrepreneurialism
Capitalizing on the State
Reasserting state power by remaking markets? The introduction of real estate investment trusts in France and its implications for state-finance relations in the Greater Paris region
Uncovering the City of London Corporation
The Secondary Circuit of Capital Reconsidered
Housing segregation in Chinese major cities
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State, capitalism and infrastructure-led development
Creating Liquidity out of Spatial Fixity
The secondary circuit of capital and the making of the suburban property boom in postcrisis Chinese cities
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Transforming Social Housing Into an Asset Class
In Real Estate Investment We Trust
The Financialization of A Social Housing Provider
Privatization, Financialization and State Restructuring in Eastern Germany
Uneven and combined state capitalism
The Variegated Financialization of Housing
(Post)Suburban Development and State Entrepreneurialism in Beijing's Outer Suburbs
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Financialization and the third sector
Constructing a New Asset Class
| Unique citing works | 7 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 7 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |