Unequal Returns to Housing Investments? A Study of Real Housing Appreciation among Black, White, and Hispanic Households

The spatial dynamics of stratification: Metropolitan context, population redistribution, and black and Hispanic homeownership

“…However, the effects are not always uniform across racial and ethnic groups. Although higher housing values discourage homeownership across the board, the negative association is stronger among minorities (Flippen 2001b), likely attributable to their more limited access to credit relative to whites.…”

“…Markets with a greater share of owner-occupied and single-family housing appear to represent more favorable supply conditions and are more conducive to homeownership (Dawkins 2005;Flippen 2001b;Lee and Myers 2003). The same applies to the share of housing that is relatively new (Clark, Deurloo, and Dieleman 1994), although it is not clear whether this signals a greater supply of housing relative to population or lower barriers to entry.…”

“…Segregated minority neighborhoods also exhibit above-average rates of crime, unemployment, single parenthood, and dependence on public assistance (Krivo et al 1998). The overlap between minority concentration and social disadvantage reduces the attractiveness of segregated neighborhoods, undermining housing values (Flippen 2004;Harris 2001;Kim 2000) and acting as a disincentive to housing investments. Second, residential segregation restricts the supply of housing available to minorities.…”

“…Even after differences in socioeconomic, human capital, and family structure characteristics across groups have been accounted for, minority members remain less likely to own a home, wait longer to transition into homeownership, and need higher income than whites to do so (Bianchi, Farley, and Spain 1982;Charles and Hurst 2002;Dawkins 2005;Flippen 2001a;Gyourko and Linneman 1997;Henretta 1979;Horton *Chenoa A. Flippen, Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania, 3718 Locust Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6298;e-mail: chenoa@sas.upenn.edu. 1. Although the share of all black (Hispanic) households who owned their homes rose from roughly 44% (42%) to 47% (46%) between 1990 and 2000, the increase was even greater for whites, whose rate of homeownership rose from 68% to over 74% during the period.…”

“…In response, researchers have increasingly turned their attention to the ways in which social context structures minority homeownership attainment. For instance, metropolitan housing stock characteristics, racial segregation, and minority composition have been found to structure access to homeownership above and beyond personal and household-level factors (Alba and Logan 1992;Borjas 2002;Deng, Ross, and Watcher 2002;Flippen 2001b;Freeman 2005;Krivo 1995;Lee and Myers 2003;Myers et al 2005;Toussaint-Comeau and Rhine 2000).…”