Race and home values in Durham, North Carolina: 1940–2020

We examine the relationship between race and home values in Durham, North Carolina using two methods to partition the city geographically: first, using the racial composition of census tracts, and second, the rating assigned to neighborhoods by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. We find that home values are strongly associated with racial composition and neighborhood rating. Homes in Black neighborhoods are worth less than those in white neighborhoods, and homes in redlined neighborhoods are worth less than those in greenlined neighborhoods. We confirm that home values in 1940 correspond to the ranking implied by HOLC ratings, and that these patterns remain in the present. Furthermore, within the areas with the lowest home values for each partition, Black home-owners occupy the least valuable homes. Taken together, our findings add confirmatory evidence to the literature on the persistence of racial disparities in housing outcomes.