Neighborhood Diversity and House-Price Appreciation

This study examines changes in house prices relative to the level of and change in percent racial/ethnic composition for certain counties in Tampa and Orlando, Florida. Repeat-sales transactions between 1971 and 1997 are used to create a constant quality price index for each city. The index for Tampa shows that the average annual house price appreciation was 5.89 percent over the period 1970 through 1997. The index for Orlando shows that the average annual house price appreciation was 5.25 percent over the 1970 through 1997 period. When the Tampa index model is expanded to account for race/ethnicity, household factors, and economic factors, the level of African American population has no significant effect on house-price appreciation; however, the change in percent African American has a negative effect. The level of percent Hispanic population has a positive effect, and the change in percent Hispanic has a positive effect. The expanded Orlando model shows that the level of percent African American population has no significant effect on price appreciation, while the change in percent African American has a negative effect. The level of Hispanic population has a positive effect, while the change in percent in Hispanic has a negative effect.