Housing financialisation as a tool of managing dependent integration – the case of Hungary between 2008 and 2024

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse how housing policy and financial cycles interact, through the case study of Hungary in the period between 2008 and 2024. The main contribution of the paper is twofold: first, to highlight how housing financialization serves the political and
economic interests of an authoritarian-leaning political regime, in the context of the dependent economic integration of the country. We underline how housing, as well as the industries connected to it are specifically important for the electoral and economic base of the Hungarian government. Second, the paper employs a cyclical analysis, following how homeownership-based housing financialisation, which is characteristic of the Central and Eastern European region, changes its appearance but not its fundamental nature through various financial cycles.
Hungary is an interesting case study since it was considered to take unorthodox paths in terms of economic policy, especially in the years following the 2008 crisis. While the intertwined nature of financial capitalism and new authoritarian regimes has been noted in the literature, the specific role of housing in this connection is often overlooked. In the paper we give an overview of three phases of housing financialisation in Hungary: from 2008 to 2015, from 2015 to 2022 and from 2022 onwards.