How racial discrimination determines who gets housing in Germany Analysis by DW

Housing is not only a material necessity but a foundation for social stability, economic mobility and personal well-being. A recent analysis by Deutsche Welle (DW), drawing on new research from the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM), exposes how access to housing in Germany is systematically shaped by racial discrimination. The study represents the first comprehensive, data-driven examination of how racialised people experience exclusion, precarity and unequal living conditions in the German housing market.

At the core of DW’s analysis is data from the National Discrimination and Racism Monitor (NaDiRa), which surveyed more than 9,500 people between August 2024 and January 2025. The findings reveal stark disparities: Muslim and Black respondents reported exclusion from apartment viewings with probabilities of 35% and 39% respectively, compared to just 11% among non-racialised people. These subjective experiences were reinforced by field experiments in which researchers sent applications to real apartment listings. Applicants with German-sounding names received viewing invitations 22% of the time, while those with names common in the Middle East, Turkey or Africa were invited only 16% of the time.

DW illustrates these statistics through individual testimonies that highlight the emotional and material consequences of discrimination. Belphine Okoth, a Kenyan postgraduate living in Bonn, describes months of unsuccessful searching despite submitting applications in German and omitting her photograph.

“I can't explicitly say that it's an issue of race — I try not to see it that way, otherwise I'd feel so bad […] if I want to make it entirely on race, I feel like I don't stand a chance.” Her experience reflects a broader pattern identified by DeZIM: racialised people are more likely to live in unofficial sublets or fixed-term contracts, with 12% affected compared to 3% of non-racialised renters.

Financial strain compounds this insecurity. According to the DW analysis, 37% of racialised people spend more than 40% of their income on housing, compared to 30% of non-racialised people. Housing quality also differs markedly. The probability of living in defective housing is 57% for racialised people, versus 48% for others, while exposure to environmental pollution and cramped living conditions is significantly higher.

Discrimination does not end once housing is secured. Alexander Thom of Fair mieten, Fair wohnen told DW that conflicts with neighbours and landlords increasingly mask racial harassment. Black single mothers, in particular, are frequently accused of excessive noise, leading to warnings or eviction threats that later prove baseless.

David, an African American and naturalised German citizen, describes prolonged legal battles with his landlord and suggests racial bias underpins the behavior: “How does he have no fear of criminal prosecution? Because he thinks obviously it's just some Black person, and he can do whatever the hell he wants, it's obvious.”

Advocacy groups argue these practices are systemic. Tahir Della of the Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland told DW, “The housing market is completely contaminated by racism.” Structural loopholes, such as exemptions within anti-discrimination law for certain landlords, allow exclusion to persist largely unchecked.

DW concludes that addressing these inequalities requires stronger legal protections, expanded advisory services and increased social housing provision. As DeZIM’s scientific director Noa K. Ha notes, discrimination affects even second-generation immigrants, underscoring that the problem is not language or integration, but entrenched racial bias within Germany’s liberalised housing market.

By Tamilla Hasanova