Racial Differentials in Real Estate Advertising Practices: An Exploratory Case Study

:This article reports on the print media advertising practices of a major real estate company operating in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, during 1981–1984. Statistical findings suggest that, compared to home sellers in a white neighborhood listing with this company, those in an integrated or black neighborhood could expect significantly: (1) lower frequencies of advertisements and open houses noted in the Sunday metropolitan newspaper; (2) higher probabilities of no properties in their area being advertised or advertised only with "one-line" ads; and (3) lower probability of their area being described favorably in the ad Potential nonracial explanations of these findings appear invalid. The potential motivations for these practices and their segregative consequences are analyzed