Who Gets the Keys? Exploring Discrimination in Tenant Selection

Mathieu Bunel (), Marie‐Noëlle Lefebvre (), Élisabeth Tovar () and Laëtitia Tuffery
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Mathieu Bunel: IREDU - Institut de Recherche sur l'Education : Sociologie et Economie de l'Education [Dijon] - UBE - Université Bourgogne Europe
Marie‐Noëlle Lefebvre: ESPI2R - Laboratoire ESPI2R Research in Real Estate [Paris] - ESPI - Ecole Supérieure des Professions Immobilières
Élisabeth Tovar: EconomiX - EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: Discrimination in the rental housing market is a persistent issue, yet the mechanisms underlying biased decision-making remain insufficiently explored. While correspondence studies have extensively documented ethnic discrimination, they often fail to capture the full decision-making process or control for supply-side factors such as landlord preferences. In this multifactorial survey experiment, we asked 721 real estate apprentices to rate 2,163 tenant applications, manipulating both demand-side (origin signals, social status and pool competition ethnic mix) and supply-side (landlord preferences and property quality) factors. Our findings reveal that skin colour elicits stronger discrimination than name-based ethnic cues, and that high social status significantly moderates discrimination against minorities. Furthermore, landlord preferences play a crucial role in shaping real estate agents' decisions, with discriminatory instructions amplifying biases. The study also highlights the role of competition effects, showing that discrimination is more pronounced when minority applicants compete against majority applicants. By shedding light on the interplay between applicant characteristics, market conditions, and decision-making processes, our study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of rental market discrimination and suggests avenues for policy interventions.

Keywords: survey experiments; rental housing market; discrimination (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06
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Published in Journal of Housing Economics, 2026, pp.102158. ⟨10.1016/j.jhe.2026.102158⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05653603

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhe.2026.102158

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