Securitising suburbia: The transformation of Anglo-American mortgage finance

Langley, P.

Abstract

Informed by and contributing to approaches to finance that draw on Foucault and actor-network theory, the paper focuses on the contemporary transformation of Anglo-American mortgage finance. This transformation is understood to entail the lengthening of mortgage networks and their increased interconnection with the multiple networks of the capital markets; the making of suburban subjects as property investors in order to produce and extend mortgage borrowing in a booming housing market; and, in particular, the constitution of mortgage-backed securitisation (MBS) techniques through the calculative tools of off-balance sheet accounting, asset management, and credit rating. MBS is the practice of 'bundling' together a stream of future obligations arising from mortgagors repayments to provide the basis for the issue of, and the payment of principal and interest on, securities.

Citation

Langley, P. (2006). Securitising suburbia: The transformation of Anglo-American mortgage finance. Competition & Change, 10(3), 283-299. https://doi.org/10.1179/102452906x114384

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2006
• Deposit Date: Dec 12, 2011
• Journal: Competition and Change
• Print ISSN: 1024-5294
• Electronic ISSN: 1477-2221
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 283-299
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1179/102452906x114384
• Keywords: Calculative tools, Disintermediation, Mortgage finance, Mortgage-backed securitisation, Suburban subjects.