ABSTRACT
This chapter develops a theory of assetization that shows how a single building is converted into multiple financial assets. It focuses on a single, ordinary example of commercial real estate: an 18-story office tower in Chicago's central business district located at 550 West Adams. Set up as a series of guiding questions, the authors address the different aspects of real property that contribute to its assetization. By examining how a building is disaggregated into its component parts, our framework reveals the varied, global markets in which investable revenue streams from spatially embedded buildings are circulated and exchanged. Following the 2008 global financial crisis, scholars have increasingly come to view property markets through the lens of financialization. In its most narrow form, financialization refers to an economy's shift away from commodity production and toward financial channels of exchange.
