Marketable Values
Inventing the Property Market in Modern Britain
- Contents
- Review Quotes

Chapter 1: The Marketplace
Chapter 2: Market People
Chapter 3: Calculating the Market
Chapter 4: States of Marketability
Chapter 5: The Limits of Marketability
Chapter 6: Conclusion: “Property for the Million”
Acknowledgments
Index
"Anyone who has ever dealt with realtors (known in the UK as estate agents) will not be surprised to learn that the workings of the property market are sometimes impenetrable and often based on irrational dreams and desires. Unlike other rationalized commodities, however, landed property is immovable and, in England, its ownership was for many years complicated by a bewildering array of inheritance, tenancy, and usage restrictions. Fitz-Gibbon offers a detailed and convincing account of how this unique form of property, personal but not portable, came to be packaged, commodified, and marketed in Great Britain during the 19th century. The marketization of property entailed not only the professionalization of auctioneers, conveyancers, and estate agents, but also a cultural transition to perceiving land as a commodity to be bought and sold, not inherited. Fitz-Gibbon is particularly adept at charting these cultural contingencies as mediated through the press, estate agents, and other intermediaries situated between buyers, agents, and sellers. This book offers a thoughtful and nuanced analysis of not only the commoditization of landed property in England, but also the social and cultural meanings of land during the 19th century."
Economics and Business: Economics--Urban and Regional
History: British and Irish History | European History | Urban History
Sociology: Social History
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