Discrimination in the rental market is on the rise: 99% of real estate agencies accept racist clauses.
A study funded by the Spanish government finds discriminatory practices in calls to agencies in Barcelona and Madrid.
BarcelonaDiscrimination by real estate agencies has increased in the rental market, contributing to urban segregation. These are the two main conclusions of a Provivienda study funded by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. The study consisted of more than 700 calls to real estate agencies in Madrid and Barcelona using two different methods. testing: In the first, Spanish and foreign people were interested in rental ads, and in the second, people offered their homes for rent with the explicit intention of excluding migrants.
However, these conclusions are not new: regarding the second test, in 2020, 72.5% of real estate agencies accepted this practice from the owners. Now, five years later, the same study raises these practices by 36% and 99% of calls made to 100 real estate agencies – 50 in Madrid and 50 in Barcelona – now accept these practices.
The other 600 calls were made inquiring about 300 rental apartment listings—150 in Madrid and 150 in Barcelona—and the process consisted of the following: two people of the same gender, simulating the same socioeconomic profile but with different accents, called the same listing. One was Spanish and the other foreign. The calls were made 15 minutes apart and each inquired about apartment availability and the possibility of visiting it, as well as about alternative housing and recommendations for other areas. While the Spanish profile was offered up to four apartment alternatives in a single call, the foreign profile was offered a maximum of two, homes that were usually located in districts and neighborhoods with a high presence of migrants.
"The report has shown that the increase in discrimination is not only limited to the availability of apartments, but also includes the housing supply in specific areas, which generates residential segregation and promotes areas with greater difficulty of access for migrants, especially non-EU migrants," explains the association responsible for it.
