A new report from the German Center for Integration and Migration Research ( DeZIM ) highlights an alarming reality: the housing market in Germany is heavily tainted by racial discrimination. Since housing is a fundamental need that impacts health, career, and all aspects of life, this discrimination makes finding suitable accommodation particularly difficult for non-white and non-German people.

This is the first comprehensive analysis detailing the frequency and manner in which racialized people experience discrimination in the housing market.

📊 Revealing Figures of Discrimination

The study, conducted as part of the DeZIM's National Discrimination and Racism Monitor (NaDiRa), surveyed more than 9,500 people between August 2024 and January 2025. The data collected reveals significant statistical disparities in access to housing:

1. Exclusion of apartment viewings:
2. Muslims have a 35% probability of reporting being excluded from visits due to discrimination.
3. Black people have an even higher probability, at 39% .
4. In comparison, this probability is only 11% for non-racialized people.
5. Application tests (Candidate Matching):
6. The researchers also conducted an experiment by sending applications to real job postings with identical income and education levels, varying only the applicants' names:
7. Candidates with German -sounding names had a 22% chance of being invited for a visit.
8. Candidates with common names in the Middle East, Turkey, or Africa received invitations in only 16% of cases.

Testimony: A Kenyan applicant, Belphine Okoth, who has been looking for an apartment in Bonn for five months, reports sending out an average of three applications a day, without success. She confides that racial prejudice may be a factor, even though she is careful to send her applications in German and without a photo.

🏠 Precarious Housing Conditions and Financial Burden

Discrimination is also evident in the quality and safety of living conditions for racial and ethnic minorities:

Indicator	People of Color	Non-Racist People	Gap
Fixed-term rental contracts (Precarious employment)	12%	3%	9 percentage points
Housing expenses $\ge 40% of income (Heavy financial burden)	37%	30%	7 percentage points
Defective accommodation	57%	48%	9 percentage points
Average living space per person	47 m² (1.3 rooms)	69 m² (1.9 rooms)	$\approx 22 m^2$ and 0.6 pieces

Furthermore, the study reveals that racial and ethnic minorities are more frequently exposed to high levels of environmental pollution (such as nitrogen dioxide levels) in their place of residence.

🗣️ The Mechanisms of Everyday Racism

Racism is rarely openly expressed by landlords, as this is illegal, but discriminatory practices are common and subtle:

1. Disguised rejection: Tahir Della, spokesperson for the Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD), indicates that it is common for black people, even with a German-sounding name, to be invited for a viewing only to be told that the apartment is already rented.
2. Guarantor requirement: An anonymous Afro-German, despite having a well-paid job and an open-ended contract, was asked for a guarantor for any potential debt, a condition that "closes the market".

Alexander Thom, spokesperson for the specialist advice center Fair mieten, fair wohnen (Rent fairly, live fairly), confirms that discrimination is particularly damaging in neighborhood disputes :

1. Minor problems that would be "typical neighborhood disputes" turn out to be concrete cases of discrimination.
2. He cites the example of black single mothers who were assaulted or reported to the management company on pretexts such as "too noisy" children, often without verification of the facts.

💡 Calls to Action

To combat these structural inequalities, several voices are being raised:

1. Strengthening anti-discrimination law: Noa K. Ha, scientific director of DeZIM, and Alexander Thom, argue for expanding the list of protected characteristics and eliminating regulatory gaps.
2. Affordable social housing: Noa K. Ha calls for more affordable social housing to be made available, stressing that the liberalization of the housing market since the 1970s makes access difficult for vulnerable people, including second-generation immigrants.

The report highlights that the housing market is "completely contaminated by racism", making place of residence a blatant factor of inequality in Germany.