Real Estate Agent Response to Hispanic/Latino Clients: Homophily, Local Demographic, and Regional Differences

Last registered on December 09, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Real Estate Agent Response to Hispanic/Latino Clients: Homophily, Local Demographic, and Regional Differences
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014969
Initial registration date
December 04, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
December 09, 2024, 4:52 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
United States of America
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Andrew Hanson
Affiliation
University of Illinois at Chicago
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Zackary Hawley
PI Affiliation
Texas Christian University
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2022-01-01
End date
2024-06-15
Keywords
Behavior
Additional Keywords
Racial Discrimination, Real Estate Agent, Correspondence Study
JEL code(s)
J15, C93, L85
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
We conduct a large-scale correspondence experiment across 11 U.S. states to assess differential treatment of Hispanic/Latino clients by real estate agents. The experiment covers an area with a wide range of underlying Hispanic/Latino population and a subject pool of agents that is ethnically diverse.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Hanson, Andrew and Zackary Hawley. 2024. "Real Estate Agent Response to Hispanic/Latino Clients: Homophily, Local Demographic, and Regional Differences." AEA RCT Registry. December 09. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14969-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
We test for differential treatment by real estate agents between Hispanic/Latino and white clients using a correspondence experiment. We contact agents via e-mail and monitor response to an initial inquiry about help with a housing market transaction. We then use response/non-response to test for differential treatment by a set of randomly assigned client characteristics- client race/ethnicity, gender, and side of the market.
Intervention (Hidden)
We test for differential treatment by real estate agents between Hispanic/Latino and white clients using a correspondence experiment. We contact agents via e-mail and monitor response to an initial inquiry about help with a housing market transaction. We then use response/non-response to test for differential treatment by a set of randomly assigned client characteristics- client race/ethnicity, gender, and side of the market.
Intervention Start Date
2022-07-15
Intervention End Date
2022-08-19

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Real estate agent response or non-response to clients with different ethnicity, gender, and operating on different (buy/sell) side of the housing market.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
There are three primary client characteristics in the experiment: ethnicity (white or Hispanic/Latino), gender (male or female), and side of market (buyer or seller). We contact real estate agents in the subject pool using e-mail correspondence from clients with one of the ethnicity/gender/side of market combinations. The outcome of interest is if a real estate agent sends a response to the initial correspondence.

The name of each client signals ethnicity and gender to the agent, with the text of correspondence and e-mail subject signaling the side of the market for an intended transaction. We create a standardized structure of correspondence to send messages to agents, and then randomly assign content of the message within that structure.
Experimental Design Details
There are three primary client characteristics in the experiment: ethnicity (white or Hispanic/Latino), gender (male or female), and side of market (buyer or seller). We contact real estate agents in the subject pool using e-mail correspondence from clients with one of the ethnicity/gender/side of market combinations. The outcome of interest is if a real estate agent sends a response to the initial correspondence.

The name of each client signals ethnicity and gender to the agent, with the text of correspondence and e-mail subject signaling the side of the market for an intended transaction. We create a standardized structure of correspondence to send messages to agents, and then randomly assign content of the message within that structure.
Randomization Method
Randomization done in standard software program.
Randomization Unit
Randomization at the individual level (real estate agent).
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
37,862
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
19,020 white clients, 18,842 Hispanic clients.
18,803 male clients, 19,059 female clients.
18,891 buyer clients, 18,971 seller clients.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
A minimum detectable effect size of 10 percent difference between groups.
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
TCU Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2021-05-12
IRB Approval Number
N/A
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials