The Limits of Homeownership: Racial Capitalism, Black Wealth, and the Appreciation Gap in Atlanta

Abstract

In the wake of the 2007–08 housing crash, the Black–white wealth gap reached a staggering 20 to 1. Since then, a growing chorus of influential voices has proposed measures to increase the Black homeownership rate as a means to narrow the gap. Others, however, have argued that the uneven racial geography of home price appreciation necessarily restricts the degree to which Black households, in the aggregate, can build wealth via homeownership. We aim to contribute to these debates by theorizing a racial appreciation gap as a central feature of urban housing markets under racial capitalism, and analyzing how neighborhood racial and income characteristics have structured home price appreciation from before the height of the housing boom (2000–03) to its post‐crisis recovery (2014–16). Focusing on the two counties that encompass Atlanta, Georgia, USA—an area famous for Black prosperity—we find that a neighborhood's racial composition has a more salient impact on home price change than its income. Results indicate that when a place is marked as Black, this may itself inhibit home price appreciation, suggesting that an enduring racial appreciation gap may limit the potential for Black homeownership to substantively narrow the racial wealth gap.

The urban process under racial capitalism: Race, anti-Blackness, and capital accumulation

“…Rather, racialization processes were present exaggerating the regional, subcultural, and dialectical differences of people within Europe (Robinson, 2000). With recent work highlighting the importance of this conceptualization (e.g., Dorries et al, 2019;Hackworth, 2019;Markley et al, 2020;K. Y. Taylor, 2019), urban scholarship has yet to fully develop racial capitalism as a framework for analyzing urbanization.…”

Race matters (even more than you already think): Racism, housing, and the limits ofThe Color of Law

“…The key takeaway from the Markley et al (2020) study is its demonstration of the limits of Black homeownership as a means to reduce the racial wealth gap (also see Darity Jr. et al, 2018). In the aftermath of the housing crash of 2007-2008, Black homeownership rates today stand at just above 40%, compared to 72% for Whites, a level essentially-and remarkably-unchanged over a half century (Markley et al, 2020). Yet, beyond the vast disparity in the rate, Taylor (2020) astutely points to what is perhaps an even more significant racialized disparity at work in regards to homeownership:…”

“…Ending housing discrimination is undoubtedly a critical policy goal and, more broadly, a fully integrated society clearly appeals to our deepest moral and ethical intuitions (see Anderson, 2010). In practice, however, integrative efforts almost always unfairly burden Black people, making integration largely a "one way street" (as Goetz, 2018, p. vii, quoting Stokely Carmichael, appropriately puts it; also see Pattillo, 2014;Markley et al, 2020;Smith, 2010). More generally, while the complete erasure of Black spaces would certainly go a long way to extirpate the racist theory of value, as there would no longer be any basis to trigger it, such a path hauntingly evokes the old aphorism about destroying the village in order to save it.…”

“…While, based on survey data, some claim such an abatement is being realized, even in the face of retrograde trends in American politics (Hopkins & Washington, 2019), more probing and sophisticated analysis strongly suggests otherwise (see Goetz et al, 2020). 32 Among nonmarket remedies a major program of racial reparations such as trumpeted by Coates (2014) is an obvious public policy choice, and one endorsed by many who of late have carefully studied aspects of the racist theory of value (see, for example, Darity Jr. et al, 2018;Hightower & Fraser, 2020;Markley et al, 2020;Ray & Perry, 2020;Taylor, 2019b). While the debate over reparations is wide-ranging and complex, it is clear that this policy option faces significant political and technical obstacles, especially if the effort is serious and consequential (see, for example, Reed, 2000).…”

“…On racial capitalism, see especially Robinson (2000). Also see Pulido (2017), Bonds (2019), Markley et al (2020), Melamed (2015), and Williams (2020). 23.…”