Estate Agents as Interpreters of Economic and Cultural Capital: The Gentrification Premium in the Sydney Housing Market

Gary Bridge

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2001, vol. 25, issue 1, 87-101

Abstract: This article focuses on the role of real estate agents as interpreters of the relationship between housing aesthetics (taste) and price. The research includes an analysis of housing advertisements, observation of housing auctions, and interviews with real estate agents in the gentrified inner western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. Adapting the work of Pierre Bourdieu on social class, the article argues that the relationship between housing taste and price captures the interaction of cultural and economic capital and that the intermediary role of the estate agent can be used to explore this. It concludes that the gentrification aesthetic is dynamic and increasingly demands economic capital at the expense of cultural capital (a gentrification premium) to maintain class distinction. Cet article traite du rôle des agents immobiliers en tant qu'interprètes du lien entre l'esthétique (goût) et le prix d'un logement. L'étude couvre une analyse des annonces, une observation des ventes aux enchères, ainsi que des entretiens avec des agents immobiliers dans des banlieues embourgeoisées situées directement à la périphérie ouest de Sydney (Australie). En adaptant les travaux de Pierre Bourdieu sur les classes sociales, l'article établit que la relation goût‐prix du logement accapare l'interaction du capital culturel et économique, le rôle intermédiaire de l'agent immobilier permettant d'explorer celle‐ci. La conclusion démontre que l'esthétique de l'embourgeoisement est dynamique et exige un capital financier croissant au détriment du capital culturel (bonus de la réhabilitation) afin de préserver une distinction de classe.

Date: 2001
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