Predatory commodification and housing renovation

This study explores the renovation of housing governed by two tenure forms in Sweden, rental and cooperative housing. Based on a relational approach, we argue that despite requiring a similar need of maintenance at regular intervals, renovation in rental housing takes a substantially different form compared to cooperatives, regarding the extent of the work, the involvement of, and the outcome for, the residents. With the concept of predatory housing commodification, we aim at examining how the process of housing renovation is organized, what driving forces motivate renovations, along with how it impacts affected residents. Our contribution is twofold: firstly, we conceptualize renovation of housing as a commodifying process, within the realm of financialization, most often carried out brutally and contributing to housing inequality; secondly, our contribution is empirical as it covers housing renovation from a relational and contrasting perspective in a field that is still under-studied in the Scandinavian context.