The Yard Sale of the Year and Appraisal Bias
Cheers RVA!
Today will be a tad cooler with a high of 77 and 53 in the evening.
the juice:
A report on Racial Disparities in home values in Richmond was published Thursday by homeofva.org. The non-profit was founded in 1971 to enforce the Housing Act, part of the 1968 Civil Rights Bill which prohibited discrimination in the sale of homes. The mission of homeofva:
Our purpose is to address housing-related systemic inequities that perpetuate segregation, concentrations of poverty, and wealth inequality.
See the dive for a closer look.
the pulp:
Office park site near Virginia Center Commons planned for hundreds of apartments, from Jonathan Spiers at Bizsense
An unoccupied house in Rodanthe, NC, collapsed into the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday, from the Virginian-Pilot
The yard sale of the year is coming up on Saturday morning in the neighborhoods south of the Nickel Bridge. All of these houses will be having yard sales, from South Richmond News:
the cycle:
The Virginia Breeze bus line will offer the state’s first east-west bi-directional route, from Harrisonburg to Va Beach. Stops include Norfolk, Newport News, Williamsburg, New Kent, Richmond, and Charlottesville, via the Mercury.
The operating costs for the State are around $500k and will be funded through a combination of Federal funds, VDOT, and ticket sales.
The route will be known as the Tidewater Current, and a one-way trip is expected to take about 7 hours.
the dive:
The Racial Disparities in home values report begins with identifying the home valuation gap. Some houses are larger than others, so $/sq foot is used as the standard. Richmond’s 148 neighborhoods are then compared by home value vs % black.
(Readers of the May 7th Cheersrva edition already knew Richmond has 148 neighborhoods)
Clearly the mostly white neighborhoods are valued higher, even after controlling for square footage. The analysis goes even further to include home size, condition, and commute time.
Solutions offered to address the disparity in home valuation:
Encourage private lenders to provide special purpose credit programs for home improvements in Black neighborhoods.
Increase pedestrian and transit infrastructure to enhance access to employment, finance, retail, and services.
Expand tree cover and green space to support well-being and mitigate environmental risks.
The report continues with the history of appraisal bias and how it continues today. I encourage you to read the full report, but this map of the branch locations of the top 30 mortgage lenders is noteworthy:
The report notes Richmond is not alone with this problem:
Richmond is not the only area where devaluation takes place in Black neighborhoods. Similar patterns of home devaluation were found in 117 out of 119 of the metropolitan areas included in a national-level study (Perry et al. 2018a). Metropolitan areas experiencing devaluation included Virginia Beach, Washington, and Baltimore.
The report was commissioned by the 6th district’s city councilwoman Ellen Robertson, according to Axios.
the vibe:
The weather in Richmond looks great this weekend. Have a great Friday RVA!
If you enjoyed this newsletter, convince a friend to subscribe.