Real estate investment trusts in retail chains: relations among real estate financialization, platform capitalism, and the geographical restructuring of capital accumulation

Abstract

This article presents the relationships between the financialization of real estate in Brazil, the emergence of platform capitalism, and the restructuring of retail chains. Based on data from 2012 to 2022 on the growth of e-commerce and the expansion of properties leased to retail chains in the assets of real estate funds, the article demonstrates the instrumental role of these funds in the demobilization of fixed capital invested in real estate and its application in new technologies. In addition, the text discusses the role of the socialization and autonomization of capital and the new geographies of surplus value extraction based on rents, a phenomenon that characterizes both the financialization of real estate and retail platforms. Through this process, it is argued, the practices and needs of the financial sector allow for an expansion of the scale of operation of both retail chains and commercial property management in Brazil.