Beyond Generation Rent: Political Economy, Inequality, and the Private Rental Sector

by Michael Byrne

As societies struggle to respond to the revival of private renting, this book offers the first comprehensive and critical account of the inequality at the heart of contemporary housing systems.

Bringing together cutting-edge research and case studies from a host of countries – from the USA to Australia, from Berlin to Barcelona – Michael Byrne examines inequality, financialization, the rise of 'generation landlord', and evictions. He analyses the everyday power dynamics between landlords and tenants and the social and economic structures that mean homeownership is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Moving beyond the kind of thinking that treats landlordism as natural and inevitable, Byrne's political economy framework demonstrates how declining homeownership and its consequences for inequality and housing justice are major political challenges for contemporary societies. At the same time, a new generation of tenant activism can point the way to fairer housing systems.

A groundbreaking study, Beyond Generation Rent is crucial reading for housing researchers, policy makers, activists, and anyone who cares about decent housing for allAs societies struggle to respond to the revival of private renting, this book offers the first comprehensive and critical account of the inequality at the heart of contemporary housing systems.

208 pages, Paperback

Published March 24, 2026

About the author

Michael Byrne is an English teacher turned taxi driver who lives with his teenage daughter in Hampshire, England. Lottery Boy is his first book for young readers.