Blacks and Hispanics are paying significantly more in home prices than whites. That's according to that tracked more than two million home sales in Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and L.A.
Duke economics professor and lead author Pat Bayer says the disparities in purchase price were not tied to a buyers' income, wealth, or access to credit.
"The other thing that was interesting is that we looked at differences in the race of the seller, and what we found is that the differences in what black and Hispanic buyers were paying were similar regardless of the race of the seller," Bayer says. "So our findings were not driven by sellers giving preferential treatment to buyers of the same race or systematically discriminating against buyers of a different race."
The study suggests blacks and Hispanics pay about 3.5 percent more for their houses, resulting in thousands of dollars in lost equity. Bayer says minorities tend to be shown fewer houses by agents and are more likely to be first-time home buyers. He says it's possible those two factors could lead to more aggressive bidding.
Bayer explains the study in a video, here:
http://youtu.be/SKkVW3VXmCg
