Rental housing and tenants’ socioeconomic status in Malmö, Sweden, 1996-2016

• Public and private rental markets in Europe cater housing increasingly to socioeconomically disadvantaged households. In this context, the article explores the spatial development of rental sectors and the socioeconomic status of tenants in Malmö, Sweden, from 1996 to 2016. We identify how the public housing sector has spread throughout the city, increasing in more attractive areas while also undergoing a residualisation process in so-called ‘less attractive’ areas. Meanwhile, the remaining presence of private rental estates on the city’s outskirts, tenure conversion from rental housing into tenant cooperative ownership, and the city’s entrepreneurial refurbishment of docklands and farmland have transformed the private rental sector. Concomitantly, we find a sharp downturn of poverty among private tenants after 2012. In summary, we reveal how government housing policy deregulation, entrepreneurial urban governance, and international tendencies fuel the rental sectors’ development. The article contributes to recent scholarship on the increased residualisation and marketization of public housing and the revival of the private rental sector and its implications for disadvantaged households. It also contributes by proposing four research areas to advance the field of housing research. 

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Social och ekonomisk geografi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Social and Economic Geography (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Public housing

private rental housing

residualisation

marketization

financialization

inequality

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

ovr (subject category)