ABSTRACT
The recent economic crisis has taught many lessons about the market economy but perhaps the most important was the simple recognition that interest in owning a home became the engine of economic growth in the consumer economy. In my book Consumer Culture and Personal Finance (2010), I note that this shift in home ownership was aided by the expansion of personal credit as financial organizations promoted innovative mortgages, bank loans, and credit cards to the mass market. So too did the neoliberal political agendas that began in the 1980s support home ownership. Governments enacted policies that provided tax breaks for renovations, and established savings and insurance schemes to make home ownership less risky and more accessible. Tax concessions on mortgage interest payments were offered in the United States and the United Kingdom. Calls to democratize home ownership coupled with the new more liberal financial instruments brought groups previously excluded from bank financing—the young, the economically disadvantaged, and those with poor credit ratings—into the fold of mortgagees. Subprime lenders covered their risks with higher interest rates. With an eye to growth, urban planners encouraged construction forms which extended private ownership of houses and apartments, while public investment in social and cooperative housing diminished. Profound changes in home tenure patterns took place between 1900 and 2000 as home ownership rose from 10 percent to 70 percent in Britain, the United States, and Canada.
