The Multilevel Determinants of the Discrepancy Between Homeowners’ Perceived Housing Values and Measured Market Values of Their Homes: The Case of the Detroit Metropolitan Area

Minha Noh , University of Michigan
Jeffrey D. Morenoff, University of Michigan
Elisabeth Gerber, University of Michigan

Housing-related inequalities in urban neighborhoods is an important driver of wealth disparities, and has gathered considerable attention in various academic disciplines and in policy. The discrepancy between people’s subjective perceptions of their housing values and more objective measures of the market value could exacerbate such disparities, and is likely to be influenced by characteristics of individuals and the broader social context in which they live. This study uses data from the Detroit Metro Area Communities Study (DMACS) to examine the gap between people’s perceptions of housing values and objective indicators of housing values from real estate sales prices and explores how this gap is related to characteristics of individuals and their neighborhood environments. It also examines whether the discrepancy between perceived housing values and the measured market values is spatially patterned and extent to which such spatial dynamics are explained by characteristics of local neighborhoods.

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 Presented in Session 8. Economy, Labor Force, Education, & Inequality