Homebuying in New Orleans Before and after Katrina: Patterns by Space, Race and Income

47 Pages Posted: 12 Jan 2010

See all articles by Dan Immergluck

Dan Immergluck

School of City and Regional Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology

Yun Sang Lee

School of City and Regional Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology

Date Written: June 1, 2008

Abstract

Natural disasters can conceivably have significant impacts on the “neighborhood sorting” of different racial or economic groups across intrametropolitan space. Using Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data we examine mortgage-financed homebuying activity within the New Orleans MSA before and after Hurricane Katrina. We find that, while the total amount of homebuying in the 7-parish New Orleans MSA was relatively unchanged between 2004 and 2006, homebuying in the city declined significantly, and declined most in places experiencing severe storm damage. We also find that after Hurricane Katrina, the proportion of homebuyers in the region and the city who were African-American or low-income declined. Finally, we find that segregation levels of African-American and lower-income homebuyers declined in the year following Katrina. However, some of this effect is likely due to smaller overall numbers of lower-income and African-American buyers in the region.

Keywords: New Orleans, housing, Katrina, mortgages, homeownership

Suggested Citation

Immergluck, Dan and Lee, Yun Sang, Homebuying in New Orleans Before and after Katrina: Patterns by Space, Race and Income (June 1, 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1535107 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1535107

Dan Immergluck (Contact Author)

School of City and Regional Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology ( email )

United States

HOME PAGE: http://www.prism.gatech.edu/~di17

Yun Sang Lee

School of City and Regional Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology ( email )

Atlanta, GA 30332
United States

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