August Martine, St-Hilaire Cloé
School of Planning, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
Environ Plan A. 2025 Apr 25;57(5):517-535. doi: 10.1177/0308518X251328129. eCollection 2025 Aug.
This article examines the links between financialization, rent increases and spatial inequality in Toronto, Canada. By drawing on qualitative data from the grey literature, corporate records and real estate events, we first find that financial landlords (REITs, REOCs, asset managers, private equity and institutions) attest to rent price increases as a strategy core to their financial structure, leading to a systematic undermining of affordability. Drawing on a Toronto-wide database of property rent levels, we then quantitatively demonstrate that financial firms charge higher rents, charge higher premiums to neighbourhood average rents and post the highest same-property quarterly rent increases, compared to other types of landlords. We analyzed the geography of financialization and rent, finding that financial firms charge the highest premiums to average rents in lower-income and racially marginalized 'Neighbourhood Improvement Area', (NIAs), capitalizing on the higher rent gap potential in devalued areas with lower rent levels. We conclude by stressing the importance of reining in on financial landlords, especially as they have become the largest acquirers of suites in Toronto in the past two decades.
本文探讨了加拿大多伦多金融化、租金上涨与空间不平等之间的联系。通过借鉴灰色文献、企业记录和房地产事件中的定性数据，我们首先发现金融房东（房地产投资信托基金、房地产运营公司、资产管理公司、私募股权公司和机构）将租金价格上涨视为其金融结构的核心策略，这导致了可负担性的系统性削弱。利用多伦多全市范围的物业租金水平数据库，我们随后定量证明，与其他类型的房东相比，金融公司收取更高的租金，收取的租金高于邻里平均租金，且同一物业的季度租金涨幅最高。我们分析了金融化与租金的地理分布，发现金融公司在低收入和种族边缘化的“社区改善区”（NIAs）收取的租金溢价最高，利用了租金水平较低的贬值地区更高的租金差距潜力。我们强调控制金融房东的重要性，特别是在过去二十年中，他们已成为多伦多套房的最大收购者。
