What’s in a name? Place misrepresentation and neighbourhood stigma in the online rental market

Ariela Schachter, John Kuk, Max Besbris and Lydia Ho
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Ariela Schachter: Washington University in St. Louis, USA
John Kuk: University of Oklahoma, USA
Max Besbris: University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA
Lydia Ho: Washington University in St. Louis, USA

Urban Studies, 2024, vol. 61, issue 16, 3050-3068

Abstract: In this article we examine how the online rental housing market reflects the desirability of different neighbourhoods in St. Louis, MO, a metropolitan area with long-standing high levels of Black–White residential segregation. Using a large digital corpus of advertisements for rental housing, we first show that adverts in neighbourhoods with more Black residents are less likely to list a neighbourhood name than adverts for available housing units in neighbourhoods with more White residents. Advertisements for housing in neighbourhoods with more Black residents are also more likely to list a different, higher-income neighbourhood name than the one in which they are located. Next, using a survey of St. Louis residents, we find that neighbourhoods with more Black residents are perceived as less desirable by both White and Black St. Louisans. We then employ a pair of survey experiments and find that interest in renting a particular housing unit changes if the advert does not list a neighbourhood name or uses a different neighbourhood name than one commonly associated with its location. Altogether, our findings reveal that postings in online housing markets reflect and reproduce existing racial-spatial patterns and may contribute to the avoidance/stigmatisation of certain neighbourhoods.

Keywords: housing; inequality; neighbourhood stigma; place branding; St. Louis; ä½ æˆ¿; ä¸ å¹³ç­‰; 街区污å; åœ°æ–¹å“ ç‰Œ; 圣路易斯 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:61:y:2024:i:16:p:3050-3068

DOI: 10.1177/00420980231198147

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