Is the tokenization of property the next step in the financialization of housing?

While financial incumbents hail the transformative potential of tokenization, critical research in economic geography and housing studies argue that the digitalization of real estate and the rise of blockchain-based platforms are more likely to usher in a new round of reintermediation, deepening financialization. Yet empirical engagement with real-world examples remains limited, leaving open the question of how housing tokenization operates in practice. This article addresses that gap by examining a European startup that capitalized on early regulatory openings to tokenize residential properties. The project sought to extend traditional securitization practices by outsourcing blockchain infrastructure, aiming to expand access to property investment and offer developers new funding channels. Drawing on qualitative research methods, we explore the mechanics, aspirations, and the limits of housing tokenization. The case exposes the tension between the rhetoric of blockchain's extension and democratization of securitization and the persistent structures of conventional finance. Far from transforming real estate markets or forging a new frontier of financialization, tokenization here reconfigures familiar arrangements in a technical guise, albeit with modest participatory and community-facing elements. As regulatory frameworks mature and financial incumbents consolidate their positions, careful empirical scrutiny is required to assess what tokenization does, and does not, change on the ground.