Race and Home Ownership: A Century-Long View

Abstract

This paper uses census IPUMS data to analyze trends in racial differences in home ownership and housing values and to examine the connection between residential segregation and the housing status of blacks relative to whites. A widening in the ownership gap between 1940 and 1960 is explained largely by the increasing concentration of blacks in central city areas whereas a narrowing in the ownership gap between 1960 and 1980 is explained only by changes in the relative characteristics of the black and white populations. Residential segregation did not widen the racial gap in home ownership rates in 1940 or 1980, but did widen the gap in housing values after 1940.