Making Choices in the Housing Market: A Social Construction of Housing Values

Abstract

This article aims at analysing how housing choices are formed in the particular housing market contexts and in the interplay with professional market practices, which is especially topical for understanding the functioning of the contemporary marketised housing fields. The research is based on a qualitative study, conducted in the submarket for new suburban housing, during the recent housing market boom in Estonia. As an example of a young housing market it offers a good basis for analysing the formation of housing demand in developing markets in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and elsewhere. The study implies the need to incorporate socio-cultural elements into empirical models of housing market behaviour. Specifically, the study indicates the importance of particular socio-economic contexts, in terms of institutional structures as well as individual capacities, in shaping the social power of different market actors and thus also value-formation in the market.