Read more about the development of the FINRENT project over time. This timeline depicts the projects key stages highlighting key milestones like workshops and presentations.

Schematic Overview of the “FINRENT” Project Timeline

© SRF

1) Data Acquisition and Management

The first project phase builds the main data base to be used throughout the project. This entails the acquisition of all necessary data sets, the required data cleaning and preparation, as well as the merging of the different sources. The Austrian Land Register (Grundbuch) is at the heart of the database. It provides the names and registration numbers (Firmenbuchnummer) of all legal persons holding a share in a particular property as well the size of that share (in terms of utility values). To account for differences across properties in terms of floorspace, we draw on the Vienna Buildings Register (Adress-, Gebäude- und Wohnungsregister II). Meanwhile, the cadastre (Grundstückskataster) provides shapefiles of the properties, thus allowing for spatial localization of each property. Finally, the international company database ORBIS will be linked to the database, providing insights into complex ownership chains of properties.

2) Ownership Analysis

This project phase will, firstly, contain an in-depth literature review on possible identification schemes of different ownership classes, particularly financialized ownership. Secondly, an in-depth analysis of shifts in the allover shares held by financialized actors between 2011 and 2022 will be conducted. This approach should result in the first comprehensive financialization study featuring a time dimension. Thirdly, this project phase aims to investigate the spatial distribution of financialized ownership in rental real estate and its shifts since the Global Financial Crisis.

3) Impact Assesment

The third project phase draws on the methodology and findings from earler phases but instead of focusing on the temporal shifts in ownership shares, we test the sensitivity of the analysis with respect to the underlying measurement of the real estate. In summary, this will further deepen the methodological discussion through focusing on the underlying measurement of the study. While, it provides a robustness check for our own results, it also aims to push forward the current standard in the literature by serving as a proof of concept similarly applicable to other context.

4) Comparative Analysis

Based on the earlier results, this project phase further extends the analysis beyond the rental housing segment. It aims to answer the question whether there is a difference in the magnitude of financialized property ownership between the residential and the commercial real estate sector. Our hypothesis is to find a higher share of institutional investors compared to the residential market, due to the latter’s highly fragmented nature. This will provide the possibility to compare the relevance of the phenomenon between sectors within a joint methodological setting.

5) Dissemination and Policy Recommendations

Based on the analysis of the rental housing and commercial real estate financiaization in the previous project phases, the objective of this phase is to identify main research findings, to develop evidence-based policy recommendations and to communicate them to both an academic and a wider audience. In the final months of the project, a public presentation of the results will be held at TU Wien. For that, a panel discussion with international experts on financialization, housing, and real estate will be organized.