Moroccan-sounding names get fewer rental viewings again

Home seekers with a Moroccan-sounding name again get fewer invitations to view a rental home. Housing minister Boekholt-O'Sullivan has sent the fifth national monitor on discrimination in rentals to the Tweede Kamer. The net discrimination rate was 14% for men and 16% for women.

The previous study (2024/2025) found, for the first time, no discrimination against the groups tested. Researchers have measured it every year since 2020, using correspondence tests that compare responses to fictitious home seekers.

The study also uses mystery calls, in which actors pose as landlords who want to exclude certain groups of tenants. Rental agents increasingly recognise such requests as discriminatory, but do not always turn them down. In total, 78.5% of agents leave room for them, directly or indirectly.

Fewer agents leave room for discrimination than in 2020, but little change in a year

%

Fewer agents leave room for discrimination than in 2020, but little change in a year (%). Highest: 2020, 84; lowest: 2024/2025, 77.5; 3 items. Source: Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning, national monitor.

View data

Data: Fewer agents leave room for discrimination than in 2020, but little change in a year

Period	%
2020	84
2024/2025	77.5
2025/2026	78.5

The Verwey-Jonker Institute will carry out the study for the next two years. The Ministry of the Interior will keep following developments each year and works with municipalities, trade associations and other partners. The ministry says the joint effort of recent years appears to have had an effect in some areas.

This autumn a national social media campaign will urge landlords and agents to select tenants fairly and transparently. It will also tell tenants and home seekers what they can do if they experience discrimination. Municipalities (gemeenten) can act against landlords in cases of discrimination, including with fines.