THE DEVALUATION OF ASSETS IN BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS 5
Much of the research on implicit bias focuses on
individuals’ perception of individual members of an
oppressed class. However, we should expect some of
these biases to carry over into places where there
are high concentrations of Black people. The value of
assets—buildings, schools, leadership, and land itself—
are inextricably linked to the perceptions of Black
people.
There is strong evidence that bias has tangible effects
on real estate markets, both historically and today.
During the 20th century, both explicit government
institutions and decentralized political actions created
and sustained racially segregated housing conditions
in the United States.
5
This has created what has
been dubbed a “segregation tax,” resulting in lower
property valuations for Blacks compared to whites per
dollar of income.
6
Contemporary work from social scientists has
aimed to sort out whether these lower valuations
are caused by differences in socio-economic status,
neighborhood qualities, or discrimination.
7
The results
tend to show compelling evidence for discrimination.
8
In one study, Valerie Lewis, Michael Emerson, and
Stephen Klineberg collected detailed survey data on
neighborhood racial preferences in Houston, Texas.
They asked people to imagine that they were looking
for a new house, found one within their price range
and close to their job; they then say to respondents,
“checking the neighborhood . . .” and then present
difference scenarios based on racial composition,
school quality, crime, and property value changes
for the hypothetical neighborhood.” Consistent with
previous research, they nd that these neighborhood
features strongly predict whether someone says they
would buy the house. Racial composition strongly
predicted the preferences of whites in neighborhoods
that were otherwise identical.
Researchers Jacob Fabera and Ingrid Gould Ellen
examined the variation of rising housing prices among
people of different racial categories who purchased
their homes before the boom from 2000 to 2007 and
kept them through the bust of 2008.
9
They found that
Blacks and Hispanics gained less equity than whites
during that period and were more likely to owe more
than their home was worth. The researchers found
that “[b]lack–white gaps were driven in part by racial
disparities in income and education and differences
in types of homes purchased.” They hypothesized
that racial segregation and the corollary economic
and education stratication between neighborhoods
exacerbated existing equity disparities within
neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty.
Consequently, the recession hit those neighborhoods
disproportionately harder, creating intense volatility
in those particular markets. Declining incomes
reduced people’s ability to purchase homes, thus
deating prices in those neighborhoods. The ndings
around education and income may result from the
disparities in wealth as it is “a powerful predictor
of individual educational and economic outcomes,
and despite their signicantly lower homeownership
… the long-run consequences of these gaps are
substantively important and difcult to overcome.”
10
But how does the concentration of Blackness
impact demand among all buyers—whether from the
community or not? Income and education certainly
matter, but how much of the demand that impacts
housing price is affected by how people around it are
perceived? In other words, what is the cost of racial
bias?
Real estate agents have been shown to direct
Black and white home buyers differently based on
racial stereotypes, reinforcing patterns of racial
segregation. Researcher Sun Jung Oh and John
Yinger reviewed four different national studies on
the topic in a 2015 article and found a common
thread: There is “evidence of statistically signicant
discrimination against home seekers who belong to a
historically disadvantaged racial or ethnic group.”
11
Some of this research is not about devaluation, per
se, but about steering and price discrimination. It
indicates that Blacks actually pay more than whites
for equivalent housing. The focus of this paper is on
how lower prices in majority-Black neighborhoods
convey lower value. Nevertheless, prior research
forces us to assume that bias is baked into home
prices. This study seeks to understand how much
money majority Black communities have to lose from
the devaluation of housing assets stemming from
racial bias throughout the market.