Blockbusting

Blockbusting is a business practice in the United States in which real estate agents and developers persuaded residents of a neighborhood to sell their homes at below market prices by stoking fear that racial minorities were about to move in, then resold the same properties at inflated prices to Black families seeking to move up economically. The practice became prominent after the Second World War, once more explicitly segregationist real estate practices were restricted by law, and it had largely disappeared in the United States by the 1980s as further legal changes and shifting markets closed off the opportunity. Research has found that blockbusting damaged Black wealth accumulation and widened the racial wealth gap, since homes bought by Black households through it often depreciated or stagnated in value rather than appreciating.