What question did this study set out to answer?

This study aims to investigate the mechanisms of discrimination in the rental housing market, focusing on how various factors influence tenant selection.

June 13, 2026Journal of Housing EconomicsOpen Access

Who Gets the Keys? Exploring Discrimination in Tenant Selection

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Authors

MBMathieu BunelUniversité de Bourgogne MLMarie-Noëlle LefebvreÉcole Supérieure des Professions Immobilières ÉTÉlisabeth TovarUniversité Paris Nanterre

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Implication

Multifactorial survey experiment reveals mechanisms of discrimination in tenant selection, suggesting policy interventions.

Key Points

This study aims to investigate the mechanisms of discrimination in the rental housing market, focusing on how various factors influence tenant selection.
Conducted a multifactorial survey experiment with 721 real estate apprentices rating 2,163 tenant applications.
Manipulated demand-side factors (origin signals, social status, ethnic mix) and supply-side factors (landlord preferences, property quality).
Skin color led to stronger discrimination than name-based ethnic cues.
High social status significantly reduced discrimination against minority applicants.
Landlord preferences and discriminatory instructions intensified biases, and discrimination increased when minority applicants competed against majority applicants.

Cite This Study

Bunel et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a2cf551faef96ed7f057571 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhe.2026.102158

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Who Gets the Keys? Exploring Discrimination in Tenant Selection

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Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Who Gets the Keys? Exploring Discrimination in Tenant Selection

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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