PROPERTY, POLICY, AND PLACE: HOUSING INEQUALITY AND GENTRIFICATION DYNAMICS IN LUXEMBOURG

Housing studies, like any established field, seek to understand the complex dynamics that shape access to and experiences of housing. Given the centrality of the home in everyday life, it is no surprise that housing has been analysed through multiple disciplinary lenses and theoretical paradigms. In recent decades, the growing commodification of housing has made affordability a critical concern – especially as homeownership, long idealised as the preferred tenure in the Global North, has become increasingly inaccessible to younger generations.
This thesis examines housing in Luxembourg, focusing on rising housing prices, significant socio-spatial transformations, and the concentration and accumulation of wealth in real estate. The case studies draw on a combination of housing policy analysis, land registry data, qualitative interviews with political elites and cross-border actors involved in or affected by housing market transformations. The thesis contributes to the empirical literature on housing in Luxembourg, particularly on gentrification, a relatively under-explored topic to date.
The first article tracks the arrival of investors in Dudelange’s housing market, showing how the characteristics of property owners have evolved over time in a context where policy has encouraged investor demand. This analysis is based on land registry data from the construction of the first apartment buildings in the mid-1960s to 2018.
The second article introduces the concept of a ‘gentrification regime’ to analyse how relationships between housing producers and consumers are shaped by financial and policy frameworks. It builds on the same dataset, extending the analysis to 2019, to better understand the gentrification trajectories in Luxembourg.
Building on these findings, the third article examines the centre–periphery relationship between Luxembourg and its French border region, through an analysis of cross-border residential mobility and housing inequality. It highlights gentrification and displacement processes, revealing the broader implications of residential trajectories across national borders.
The final article turns to political elites in Luxembourg, exploring how they frame the causes of the housing crisis and assess potential solutions. It also examines the consensual modus operandi in housing policymaking by analysing how elites perceive themselves and the political system.
Together, these studies offer a comprehensive account of Luxembourg’s housing landscape, analysing the interplay between housing policy, property wealth, and gentrification, and inform on the wider socio-economic consequences of an increasingly unaffordable housing market.