Legal Definition and Related Resources of Blockbusting

The practice of inducing owners of property to sell because of actual or rumored advent into neighborhood of members of racial, religious or ethnic group. See Summer v Teaneck Tp., 251 A.2d 761, 53 N.J. 548.

Browse or run a search for Blockbusting in the American Encyclopedia of Law, the Asian Encyclopedia of Law, the European Encyclopedia of Law, the UK Encyclopedia of Law or the Latin American and Spanish Encyclopedia of Law.

Blockbusting in Historical Law

You might be interested in the historical meaning of this term. Browse or search for Blockbusting in Historical Law in the Encyclopedia of Law.

Search for legal acronyms and/or abbreviations containing Blockbusting in the Legal Abbreviations and Acronyms Dictionary.

You might be also interested in these legal terms:

What does Blockbusting mean in American Law?

The definition of Blockbusting in the law of the United States, as defined by the lexicographer Arthur Leff in his legal dictionary is:

A technique for increasing real estate brokerage income by playing upon the racial fears of homeowners. The blackbusting broker buys up a few properties in a neighborhood adjacent to a minority one, often paying premium prices. He then sells it to minority buyers, sometimes at a loss. He then starts rumors that the neighborhood is “turning” and aggressively solicits other owners to sell quickly, lest they be left behind either to have to sell their severely devalued properties later or to have to live among (to them) unattractive neighbors. Sometimes the first minority members moved in are not bonafide buyers at all, but straws imported to behave as offensively as possible. In effect, the blockbuster is seeking to create a bandwagon effect, a vastly increased volume of panicky home sales, for he stands to gain solely from the increased number of sales commissions and has no regard at all for the ensuing decrease in property values. Blockbusting is outlawed by state and national law (including the Civil Rights Act of 1968) but it is the very devil to prove if handled with any sophistication. See also fair housing laws.