Final answer:
The practice where a real estate agent directs prospective buyers away from neighborhoods based on race is known as steering. This discriminatory practice leads to racial segregation in housing by influencing where people are directed to buy homes.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a real estate agent channels prospective buyers away from a particular neighborhood because of their race, it is called steering. This practice consists of directing homebuyers towards or away from certain neighborhoods based on their racial or ethnic background. Steering is a form of discrimination that has contributed to the maintenance of racially segregated communities by influencing the housing options available to buyers.
In some cases, steering might be subconsciously conducted under the guise of helping people find homes where they 'feel at home,' which means neighborhoods predominated by persons of the prospective buyer's ethnicity. However, such practices are discriminatory and often illegal, as they contribute to the perpetuation of racial segregation within communities. This practice is distinct from other historically discriminatory practices such as blockbusting, which involved real estate agents and speculators inducing panic-selling among white homeowners by suggesting that minority families were moving into the neighborhood, often leading to 'white flight.'