Study Finds Real Estate Disparity Between White and African-Americans

A recent study by the Brandeis University found the  widening wealth gap between African Americans and white Americans is creating a real estate disparity, reported The Washington Post.

In a very detailed report, researchers were trying to answer whether wealth inequality would create such a disparity, one that found African Americans with lower-paying jobs and less-valuable real estate.

The study conducted by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy, IASP, at Brandeis University, took place between 1984 and 2009 and rounded together 1,700 working individuals. According to The Post, this era in time was crucial time for the country progress for the black middle class. There was a rise in middle class expansion, graduation rates increased among blacks and blacks were moving into elected posts even presidential nominations.

The key findings were the wealth gap tripled between white and black families. Specifically, the IASP, calculated that the gap increased from $85,000 to $236,500 between 1984 and 2009.

Some of the defining factors that influenced the gap were the household incomes of the families, which allow families to invest in better homes in safer neighborhoods and providing better support for children in terms of sending them off to college. Better incomes measures security, but unemployment was more prominent among African-American families, according to the study.

Researchers found that extreme wealth inequality hurts the family well-being and impedes on economic growth not only in communities but the whole nation, as well.

Among the biggest drivers of wealth gap was the number of years of homeownership, which accounted for 27 percent of the why there was a gap.  IASP found that throughout history, residential segregation challenges how African-American families buy homes and historically white families have acquired more wealth and could afford to make down payments. 

White families also provide more financial assistance and so larger payments by white homeowners lower interest rates and lending costs, according the IASP.

For drivers such as homeownership on the widening racial gap, IASP added that there need to be fairer housing policies on mortgages and lending opportunities to remove racial segregation. 

"As our nation moves towards a majority people of color population, increasingly diverse neighborhoods must deliver equitable opportunities for growing home equity," IASP reported.