2022
The "Cities for Rent" project emerges as a vital investigation into the growing influence of corporate landlords in Europe, particularly during a time when housing affordability has become a pressing issue for many. Amidst the pandemic, the demand for rental flats has surged, making housing an appealing investment opportunity. However, this increased interest has also led to reports of exploitative practices by companies that prioritize profit over the well-being of tenants. Over a span of seven months, a dedicated team of over 25 investigative journalists and data experts from 16 European countries collaborated to uncover the dynamics of this phenomenon. Their mission focused on identifying the sources of investment flooding into housing markets and understanding the implications for everyday citizens. The collaborative effort aimed to collect and visualize data on how corporate acquisitions of homes affect urban living conditions and community stability. One of the significant challenges faced by the team was the lack of transparency from corporate landlords, which hindered their ability to obtain relevant data. "Cities for Rent" seeks to initiate an open dialogue and collaborative research that addresses the crisis of housing affordability in European cities. The project has garnered recognition, winning the European Press Prize, receiving an honorable mention at the IJ4EU Impact Award 2022, and earning a nomination for the Sigma Awards, highlighting its impact on data journalism and the critical issues surrounding housing today.
Everyone needs a home, and even more during a pandemic.
High demand for rental flats across European cities has contributed to make housing a very attractive investment. At at time when many people can’t find an affordable and decent flat to live, reports of a huge increase in investment flows into housing across Europe go hand in hand with stories of abusive practices by ‘corporate landlords’, companies that buy and rent out housing for profit.
Where is all that money coming from? Who are the companies and investors buying so much housing across Europe? How does this phenomenon affect people’s lives and homes in European cities?
During a period of more than seven months, a team of over 25 investigative and data journalists and visualisations experts from 16 European countries, have been working on the cross-border collaborative project Cities for Rent: Investigating Corporate Landlords Across Europe.
We wanted to find the data and visualise these developments, and document their effects on our cities and in people’s lives. We found that since the financial crisis international investment funds and housing corporations have been buying up homes across European cities and there are different critical issues connected to this.
Finding all the relevant data is being a challenge due to a lack of transparency by corporate landlords, and we would like Cities for Rent to become the start of an open collaborative effort towards more cross-border research into the crisis of housing affordability in European cities and how that affects people’s lives.
Cities for Rent won the European Press Prize, received an honourable mention at the IJ4EU Impact Award 2022, and was nominated to the Sigma Awards for data journalism.