From housing wealth to mortgage debt: the really big trade off driving Britain's asset-shaped welfare state

Stuart Geoffrey Lowe; B  Seale; S  Smith

doi:10.1017/S1474746411000455

From housing wealth to mortgage debt: the really big trade off driving Britain's asset-shaped welfare state

Stuart Geoffrey Lowe, B Seale, S Smith

Social Policy and Social Work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Housing has been unjustifiably neglected in comparative welfare state research. The banking crisis of 2007–08, however, revealed how important housing, especially home ownership and the institutional structures of the mortgage market, has become to welfare state change. Securitisation of mortgages created a new circuit of global capital, while national mortgage markets became the conduit through which home owners were connected to this wave of globally sourced capital. In the UK, equity stored in owner-occupied property became much more fungible because of the very open/liberal mortgage market. As a result home owners began to ‘bank’ on their homes using it not only for consumption but increasingly as a financial safety net, a cushion against adversity and a means for securing access to privately supplied services and supporting their family's welfare needs across the life-course. This welfare state change – a move towards asset-based welfare – was historically and today remains underpinned by the emergence of the UK as a home-owning society.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	105-116
Number of pages	12
Journal	Social Policy and Society
Volume	11
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746411000455
Publication status	Published - Jan 2012

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10.1017/S1474746411000455

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8448273

Cite this

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title = "From housing wealth to mortgage debt: the really big trade off driving Britain's asset-shaped welfare state",

abstract = "Housing has been unjustifiably neglected in comparative welfare state research. The banking crisis of 2007–08, however, revealed how important housing, especially home ownership and the institutional structures of the mortgage market, has become to welfare state change. Securitisation of mortgages created a new circuit of global capital, while national mortgage markets became the conduit through which home owners were connected to this wave of globally sourced capital. In the UK, equity stored in owner-occupied property became much more fungible because of the very open/liberal mortgage market. As a result home owners began to {\textquoteleft}bank{\textquoteright} on their homes using it not only for consumption but increasingly as a financial safety net, a cushion against adversity and a means for securing access to privately supplied services and supporting their family's welfare needs across the life-course. This welfare state change – a move towards asset-based welfare – was historically and today remains underpinned by the emergence of the UK as a home-owning society.",

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