At the nexus of finance, property, and time: collateral and the instrumentation of space

Philip Ashton and Rachel Weber

Chapter 7 in Handbook on Financialisation and Space, 2026, pp 96-111 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Our chapter grounds the concept of collateral in the study of financialisation and space. Focusing on US commercial property markets, we track how concepts of security for real estate loans have evolved from idiosyncratic legal provisions into a set of standardised legal instruments. We show how this evolution has shaped collateral as a source of finance's social power with a complex spatiality, evident in the reach of global investors to seize property as well as in the anchoring of financial knowledge practices in space. We then examine how collateral has come to function as a financial commodity in its own right within complex, impersonal transactions (such as securitisation), its value evident in its ability to transform financial claims into cash in the event of default or foreclosure. We conclude by focusing on the paradox of collateral, in which instruments designed to generate financial security have themselves become sources of systemic risk.

Keywords: Collateral; Security; Commercial Real Estate; Securitisation; Financial Fragility; United States (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035328628
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