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.
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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.”