Homes in black neighborhoods in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach are being undervalued, according to a study released last month by the Brookings Institute.
In South Florida, homes in predominantly black neighborhoods are valued at $41,000 less than comparable homes in white neighborhoods.
The study, titled “The Devaluation of Assets in Black Neighborhoods,” found across the country racism plays a role in the value of a home.
The researchers found even when a predominantly black neighborhood shared the same types of amenities and characteristics of a predominantly white neighborhood, the black neighborhood’s homes were valued lower than the same types of homes in white neighborhoods.
The researchers call that “the cost of racial bias” and the implications are costly for black homeowners, resulting in a cumulative loss of $156 billion.
The study’s authors noted that history is likely influencing how people view and value majority black neighborhoods — 350 years of slavery, Jim Crow laws and subsequent explicit racist housing policies like redlining.
“Our findings are generally consistent with the widespread presence of anti-black bias—whether unconscious or not, ingrained stereotypes and automatic associations of a particular group, and even outright discrimination and racism,” the researchers wrote.
And the study found the devaluation of these homes affects how much wealth a family has to pass on from one generation to the next, making “it more difficult to start and invest in business enterprises and afford college tuition for their children.”