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Hope this doesn't ruffle any feathers: I'm doing research for real estate investment purposes and notice that many of the lower priced cities I'm looking into have a very large population, sometimes a majority, of blacks. Examples: Dayton OH, Memphis TN, Atlanta GA, Jacksonville FL, Rochester NY. I'm from California, so I've never seen an area that has more than 20% blacks outside of Compton, and Compton is not the major city in the area.
Anyone know why black majority areas are often so cheaply valued? I understand that white flight has something to do with it, but would seem to me that if jobs disappear, blacks would also move? thanks for any insight
I don't think that there's necessarily a correlation between the black population and the lower prices in a lot of the places you mentioned. There are quite a few other factors...and some comparable valued high white% cities nearby or in the region.
Hope this doesn't ruffle any feathers: I'm doing research for real estate investment purposes and notice that many of the lower priced cities I'm looking into have a very large population, sometimes a majority, of blacks. Examples: Dayton OH, Memphis TN, Atlanta GA, Jacksonville FL, Rochester NY. I'm from California, so I've never seen an area that has more than 20% blacks outside of Compton, and Compton is not the major city in the area.
Anyone know why black majority areas are often so cheaply valued? I understand that white flight has something to do with it, but would seem to me that if jobs disappear, blacks would also move? thanks for any insight
Has nothing to do with disappearing jobs. You can start your research here:
Hope this doesn't ruffle any feathers: I'm doing research for real estate investment purposes and notice that many of the lower priced cities I'm looking into have a very large population, sometimes a majority, of blacks. Examples: Dayton OH, Memphis TN, Atlanta GA, Jacksonville FL, Rochester NY. I'm from California, so I've never seen an area that has more than 20% blacks outside of Compton, and Compton is not the major city in the area.
Anyone know why black majority areas are often so cheaply valued? I understand that white flight has something to do with it, but would seem to me that if jobs disappear, blacks would also move? thanks for any insight
White flight has pretty much everything to do with it. It started because of overcrowding and pollution, not just jobs disappearing (because many, MANY people work in the cities but live in the suburbs). But because African-Americans have, on average, lower income levels than white people (the reasons for this are multifaceted and go back all the way to Jim Crow laws and discrimination after the end of slavery), many of them can't "also move," especially when the white flight has been mostly to affluent suburbs with very high home prices.
So it becomes a compounding problem. Rich (mostly white) people move, leaving behind abandoned homes that lose value until they are either unlivable or purchased by poor (mostly Black and Hispanic) people. Tax money dries up, schools have to be closed, infrastructure falls apart. Until then even less wealthy people want anything to do with the place. As a former Cleveland resident whose family moved down south (we are white, but we certainly aren't rich) I've experienced the effect a shrinking population has on a city personally.
What's the crime rate in those areas? I think crime rate has a lot more to do with values than the ethnic composition of the residents.
Nope. Even majority Black upper-income neighborhoods with low crime rates have lower valuations than majority White neighborhoods with similar income levels.
Nope. Even majority Black upper-income neighborhoods with low crime rates have lower valuations than majority White neighborhoods with similar income levels.
Sad, but true. Also, none of the metros mentioned are mostly Black.
I'm not sure of any metropolian areas that are majority African-American. However, if we refer to inner city and suburbs with majority black populations I think the answer might be a perceived notion that majority black areas are not as vibrant and safe as white neighborhoods. In general, black areas are perceived to be poorer and somewhat run-down. Sometimes this notion is inaccurate, other times not.
Because people with money don't want to live in black neighborhoods, this includes upper class black people. The schools are not as good, crime tends to be higher and people associate black areas with poverty even when that's not the case.
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