What term describes the practice of encouraging panic selling in a neighborhood?

Blockbusting is a term used to describe the practice of encouraging homeowners to sell their properties under the threat of declining neighborhood conditions, often by instilling fears about demographic changes. This tactic typically involves real estate agents or investors who create a sense of urgency among current residents, often using misinformation or manipulation, leading them to believe that their home values will fall if they do not sell quickly. By creating this panic, blockbusters can then buy properties at lower prices and often flip them for profit, while also introducing new residents to the community, which can further exacerbate the fear among the original homeowners.

The other terms represent different concepts within real estate that do not relate specifically to the practice of inducing panic selling. Steering refers to guiding potential buyers toward or away from certain neighborhoods based on their protected class status, redlining involves the systematic denial of services to residents in specific geographical areas, usually based on racial or ethnic demographics, and dispersion generally refers to the distribution of populations across different geographic areas, none of which capture the essence of inducing panic selling as effectively as blockbusting.