How do we understand and apply the unfamiliar ‘financialization of housing’ discussion in Korean context?

Abstract

One of the major topics in the world housing academia recently is ‘financialization of housing’. This discussion, which appeared in academia before and after the 2008 global financial crisis, has become one of the mainstream discourses in housing research from around 2015. The recent discussion on financialization of housing has expanded its scope from the issue of risk loans and household debt to the discussion on the concept of housing and capital circulation, the increase of private rents and the problem of multi-homeowners, and the alternative and practical tasks of financialization. This paper introduces the discussion of financialization of housing in the global housing academia, and explores how to understand and apply it in the context of Korea. While studies on housing finance are active in Korea, discussions on financialization of housing, which can be said to be more macroscopic and structural, are very rare. Therefore, along with an in-depth analysis of Korea's housing finance, this paper proposes researches on the relationship between asset disparity and inequality, and discussing asset-based welfare.