Tim White

What happens when venture capitalists try to reinvent housing in their own image? Find out in my new @ijurresearch.bsky.social article ‘Hyperscaling Housing’ It traces VC-fuelled attempts to aggressively scale real estate start-ups, and the devastating consequences for tenants.

New journal article out -- Power without Capacity? On English local government and the contradictions of the council tax regime. Free access. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Spaces of Urban Platformisation⁣ investigates how financialisation and platform capitalism shape urban everyday life. It looks at the speculative operations around Airbnb and coworking in Berlin. The book has been out since May ’26, but it is never too late to promote it a little bit.

How is privilege produced in Britain’s elite schools? Join the III & @lsesociology.bsky.social for the book launch of An Elite Education by @emmaemmatay.bsky.social, joined by Tiwa Adebayo, Annette Lareau, Lee Elliot-Major & @mikesavagelse.bsky.social Register: buff.ly/NTZKoR5

It was surreal to be on @cnnipr.bsky.social last night talking about the surging politics of housing in Europe. The main point being that when people's most basic needs are not met, governments will pay the price. The solution being: decommodify housing.

Well, I for one am an economist who supports rent controls! Here’s why 🧵: Markets only work well if: -buyers & sellers have roughly equal power -producers respond to price signals & expand supply in response to scarcity -buyers can walk away if prices get too high

There's been more research recently on the relationship between housing & issues like energy & health. Today's post looks at link with water poverty/precarity, based on a new report @pbresnihan.bsky.social @orla-hegarty.bsky.social theweekinhousing.substack.com/p/housing-pr...

Nice to be quoted in this excellent sum-up by @ashifakassam.bsky.social on the surging politics of housing in Europe www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...

Publication day. The Data Politics of Housing, Property and Planning, edited by Danielle Hynes, Rob Kitchin and Samuel Mutter. Published by Policy Press. Open access download at: policy.bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-data-pol...

It's time. Time to write about this style of writing. Which I've done here. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Our research (w/Edward Shepherd) on the political economy of land value capture won this year’s @rtpiplanners.bsky.social Patsy Healey Prize for Academic Excellence! Check it out here: housingevidence.ac.uk/project/who-...

What happens when venture capital tries to reinvent housing? This article traces the rapid expansion of co-living real estate start-ups, revealing how the pursuit of scale reshapes housing markets—and shifts the costs onto tenants. By Tim White www.ijurr.org/article/hype...

KCL made a little video of me talking about my research on venture capital + housing:

Out next Spring with @princetonupress.bsky.social !

What is a housing 'love letter' and how and why is it being used by prospective homebuyers? In this new paper with @lukegreen.bsky.social we argue that these personal letters are market devices through which buyers seek advantage in an increasingly unequal housing system doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...

A beautiful thing in academia is the chance to meet and learn from smart people across disciplines, and let conversations simmer, allowing ideas to emerge and take shape. This was a great piece to write with a great team. Thanks to @ctwittekind.bsky.social and Elizabeth Resor for leading the charge!

A company which began as a book seller became a company which destroys books. Capitalism really is eating itself

PhD opportunity at @liser.lu: Housing provision as enjoyment jobs.liser.lu/job/Esch-sur... Part of the @fnr.lu funded C-SOS (Competitiveness within a Safe Operating Space) Doctoral Training Unit, in collaboration with LIST and @uni.lu Deadline: September 18th, 2026 Happy to answer any questions!

A major loss. Michael was tireless, intellectually curious, full of energy, with a huge drive to educate. He was generous with time and ideas; always full of questions. He was especially kind to junior colleagues, and unfailingly supportive of other people’s projects. May his memory be a blessing.

New report + tool, making the case for municipal and community-led development

Fascinating article on the political economy of outer space, situating the dominance of SpaceX today within a long history of deregulating and commercialising the skies:

journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10....

Who said it couldn't get any worse: 12% of London properties originally intended for private sale sold in bulk deals this past year. Housing as an asset class, it's coming home.

We now know a bit about what happens when the likes of private equity firms and REITs enter housing markets. But what about venture capitalists?  My recent paper ‘Hyperscaling housing’ has been published in the latest volume of IJURR (spoiler: it's not pretty):

We now know a bit about what happens when the likes of private equity firms and REITs enter housing markets. But what about venture capitalists?  My recent paper ‘Hyperscaling housing’ has been published in the latest volume of IJURR (spoiler: it's not pretty):

Essential reading from @davvkamp.bsky.social on how founder control explains the concentration of power in the hands of tech billionaires and exposes the myth of shareholder democracy tribunemag.co.uk/2026/07/the-...

Just out! My introduction to a new special issue in @sciasculture.bsky.social on "Tech Oligarchy" - go check it out and the papers in the special issue (under "Latest" articles) #techoligarchy #assetization #techbro #bigtech www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

My new article with @mihjournal.bsky.social is at long last in orbit. It explores how the neoliberal fantasy machine has used space colonisation to wish away the problem of environmental limits and revive the legitimation of private property.

Stating the obvious (about the taxation of #housing assets), Australian style: pearlsandirritations.com/post/2026/07...

For everyone fascinated by the couple who ate pack lunches for a decade, check out @ntaylor.bsky.social and my (OA) piece about this weird and wonderful world! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Just saw that the first piece from our special issue is already out: Factions of asset-based capitalism: a historical typology, by @melindacooper.bsky.social See here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... Will write a thread on the SI and each of the papers once they're all out!

How does the ability to weather insecurity give some an upper hand? Drawing on interviews in co-living schemes, this paper explores how residential precarity is leveraged in pursuit of tumultuous careers in the knowledge economy. #EarlyView in #BJS ➡️ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Great paper! Worth a read

Sombre news to start Wednesday with. Living in temporary accommodation has contributed to the deaths of 104 children in England in the past six years, 76 of whom were under the age of one. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Who should own the value of land? New report by Ed Shepherd and myself on the political economy of land value capture. A major research undertaking (incl 50 interviews) examining the power relations that structure how land values are (unjustly) distributed in England. @housingevidence.bsky.social

"From what I understand about private equity is you invest upfront early, you make back your money, you sell & get out – that is the model as I've understood it ...That to me is completely incompatible with healthcare of any form, early years care & so on." Yep! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"It takes a certain kind of mind to look into the world of colostomy bags, incontinence pads and emollient cream and see dollar signs" Brilliant, visceral piece on private equity + care homes from what is sure to be a banger of a book by @hettieobrien.bsky.social

If this is a conjuncture marked by escalating crises, provoking growing interest in conjunctural thinking across the critical social sciences and humanities, now's the time to ask... What's the point of conjunctural analysis? New article out in Dialogues in Urban Research: doi.org/10.1177/2754...

"Never before has nothing been something worth taking more seriously." Receive 20% off my new book with the code SAMMAN20: www.sup.org/books/politi... mngbookshop.co.uk/978150364586...

Wrote about the Iran crisis, electricity costs, and why clean power is the right strategy - but not enough. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What’s driving today’s authoritarian turn? How is the postwar order shifting? And where do liberalism and illiberalism collide? Professor Anthony Bogues spoke to @neilwarner.bsky.social and @willkend.bsky.social about his recent LSE lecture.

1. La vivienda en alquiler se ha convertido en un gran negocio. Los rentistas controlan la economía y la política, pero destrozan la sociedad. Hay alternativas. La generación inquilina puede acabar con esta desigualdad y cambiar el modelo para siempre. A partir del 9 de marzo🙌🧵

🤩So happy to see the first output of the HypeRent research project out! In this OA paper, @douccap.bsky.social and I propose an analytical fmwk to make sense of the development and regulation of co-living and STRA, identified as hyper-commodified housing products. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

There are some characteristically fascinating points in this @melindacooper.bsky.social piece about the Epstein scandal, and what it reveals about the "master and servant" logic of the contemporary far right www.equator.org/articles/eps...

Brilliant to see this out!