The mid to late twentieth century saw dramatic changes in housing tenure structures. In particular, levels of individual home ownership rose as did the scale and scope of urban residential wealth. This accumulation of housing wealth in these early home ownership societies (e.g. UK, USA, Japan) generated considerable research and policy interest. It was anticipated that social relations and social structures would be transformed by this new and pervasive form of personal wealth. As the process of housing wealth accumulation unfolded, however, new factors and policy imperatives emerged associated with demographic ageing, housing wealth divides, asset-based welfare and ideas of neoliberal self-reliance. From the vantage point of the early twenty-first century, how should we now understand the impact of these developments in relation to housing opportunities, social inequalities and urban change? The implicit promise of housing wealth- for- all through an ever-expanding home ownership has become considerably qualified and severely compromised by financial crises, shifting demographics and structural changes in financialised, neoliberal capitalism. This paper explores the changing narratives around housing wealth among those societies which were the first to develop modern, home ownership institutions and markets. The paper is primarily about how the growth of housing wealth has been perceived and theorized at different periods in those older home ownership systems and the relationship between the changing narrative and the changing socio-economic circumstances around home ownership. The paper concludes with a consideration of the relevance of these experiences for other societies such as Mainland China which has seen more recent and dramatic increases in the level of private property ownership.

The nature of housing and housing provision occupies a central position in society. The rhythms of social and economic change can bring about fundamental transformations in the housing sphere. Over this century the dramatic decline of private landlordism provides an obvious example. Advocates of council house sales would have people believe that they are moving inexorably towards increased owner occupation. The sales policy is presented as just one part of a natural progression, the fulfilment of the innate desire to own a home. The benefits also accrue to those agencies and institutions whose political or economic interests are closely tied to the extension of home ownership; for example, the building societies, estate agents and other exchange professionals. For the majority who purchase the advantages are clear. They are enabled to buy at substantially less than market value an asset which will almost certainly appreciate.

Previous literature has paid attention to housing pathways and cohort features of young people, but studies connecting the two themes are lacking. This paper offers a perspective on the cohort analysis of young people based on their housing choices and aspirations. With empirical evidence from a two-round social survey, this study explores the 'not leaving home' pattern of the housing choices of young people in Hong Kong. With some supplementary subgroup analysis, the cohort label of a 'post-80s generation' in Hong Kong is challenged. Contradictions are revealed in the views of our young people about housing and family life, and further analysis is conducted to examine the impacts of economic and sociocultural factors in the local context of Hong Kong. This study argues that we need to look beyond the shared features and subgroup differences and consider how sociocultural factors, particularly gender, marriage, education, and social norms, interact with economic factors to shape housing choices, aspirations and apparent contradictions in the viewpoints of young people regarding their personal development and housing futures. In doing so, the paper also engages with debates around intra and intergenerational dynamics and inequalities. The paper focuses on Hong Kong but these debates have international resonance.

There is very little research on the ways in which households are sifted and sorted in high-rise towers. Most of our knowledge of processes of social stratification and segmentation are rooted in low-rise horizontal environments. This chapter uses transaction data to explore price stratification in Hong Kong’s hyper high-rise environment. In doing so, it demonstrates the importance of height and view, particularly in more congested, higher-value neighbourhoods. The chapter speculates on how these factors may shape novel forms of social stratification and differentiation in high-rise towers. In explaining the lack of systematic social research in this area, it also points to the particular challenges posed by the social and physical architecture of the vertical city.

Raquel Rolnik was appointed as the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing in 2008. Prior experience had included various government positions in Brazil including Director of the Planning Departm...

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