Housing and Wealth Inequality: Race/Ethnic Differences in Home Equity in the United States

Lauren J. Krivo, Ohio State University
Robert Kaufman, Ohio State University

In the current research, we provide a first step at broadening our understanding of the sources of both housing and wealth inequality by studying the differential determinants of the value of housing equity among African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics, and non-Hispanic Whites in the United States. Using data from the 2001 American Housing, we examine whether significant race/ethnic gaps in housing equity remain after controlling for a wide range of locational, life cycle, socioeconomic, family, immigrant, and market/contextual characteristics. We further consider whether socioeconomic, life cycle and metropolitan housing market factors differentially influence equity accumulation for whites and the three minority groups. The results contribute to the burgeoning literature on wealth and housing inequality which acknowledges the importance of broader social and institutional processes of race/ethnic stratification that advantage some groups, Whites in this case, over others.