Many foreigners say that finding an apartment in Germany is made even more difficult due to discrimination. From the language barrier to outright racism, here’s what readers have experienced in their search for housing.
Foreigners in Germany have long complained about racism and discrimination being major obstacles in the search for a home in the country’s tight rental markets.
Two years ago, in response to a reader survey on the topic, a vast majority of respondents told us that having a foreign name had negatively impacted their lives in Germany. Of these, nearly two-thirds said they experienced discrimination in their efforts to find an apartment.
At the end of 2025, Germany’s National Discrimination and Racism Monitor published a report that confirmed what many foreigners had long understood: that belonging to certain minority groups (especially Black and Muslim people) can make finding an apartment in the country significantly more difficult.
Recently, we asked our readers if they felt they had been discriminated against in their search for housing in Germany. All but one of the respondents said they had; some apparently for their race or nationality, and others due to language, bureaucratic issues or simply the idea that foreigners are likely to leave.
Not invited to viewings
Among those who feel discriminated against, one of the most common complaints is not being invited to house viewings, even after submitting dozens or even hundreds of applications.
One reader, who identified himself as Vick, said, “People ignore you, or you don’t get viewings if you don’t look German.”
Other readers suggested that landlords seem to be filtering out applicants who have foreign-sounding names.
Discrimination in this form is particularly hard to prove for individual applicants, in part because in extremely competitive housing markets it can be hard for applicants to get viewings regardless of their name or nationality.
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However, studies have shown that applicants with foreign names do tend to get significantly less viewing invites.
A study by the German Centre for Integration and Migration Research (DeZIM), which included a field experiment in identical rental applications were sent to landlords and estate agents under different names, found that people with German-sounding names had a 22 percent chance of being invited to a viewing, while those with names from the Middle East or Africa had a 16 percent chance.
As frustrating as it is to get few replies after sending out what feels like endless housing applications, it may actually be preferable to the alternative – that is, experiencing discrimination more directly or in person.
One reader, who didn’t share a name but identified themselves as a software engineer from Pakistan, said that a landlord in Ebersberg, a small town in Bavaria, had told them they would “rent the apartment only to people speaking Bayerisch”.
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Another reader, in Berlin, who is Indian but noted that his name “is Christian/Catholic in origin” had the experience of being invited for a viewing, but then feeling discriminated against when he met the landlord in person.
He told The Local that their chat over Kleinanzeigen had been friendly and in English, but that “the moment the landlord saw [him], he seemed uninterested”.
“One of the people conducting the viewing mentioned that she worked at the airport…she began talking about her experiences dealing with Indians and that she was tired of handling those situations.
“It felt uncomfortable because it came immediately after learning that we were Indian and did not seem related to me as a prospective tenant…After that exchange the atmosphere felt noticeably more awkward and less welcoming.”
He noted that he could “not know their intentions with certainty” but that “the contrast between the positive communication beforehand and the interaction after meeting left the impression that [his] nationality may have influenced how [he] was perceived”.
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He added that he eventually secured another apartment, through an Indian work colleague, who was leaving Berlin for personal reasons and arranged for him to take over the rental.
Language, bureaucracy and other issues
While some groups of foreigners face racism, or discrimination based on their nationality, being an Ausländer of any kind also comes with some other additional barriers in Germany’s rental markets.
Multiple readers said they’ve been dismissed based on the idea that they might simply leave the country.
Joseph Martin, an American who moved to Germany with his wife in 2023, struggled for months to find an apartment when he first arrived. He said that that some landlords had told him, “We thought you would leave the country and stop paying rent because you are American.”
Another reader, who identified herself as a PhD-trained scientist from Australia, said that she was rejected multiple times for not speaking German. In other cases she was told that only her husband should be on the contract because she “could just leave”.
In some cases simply being too new to the country, and therefore not yet having the typically required documents, can be a major issue.
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Michael, who told The Local he had recently arrived in Frankfurt after previously living and working in China, Singapore and Thailand, described being excluded from most suitable apartment offers for his lack of having a Schufa credit check.
He said that out of 200 applications sent, he received just five invitations to viewings, and then just one offer – which he described as a “very bad” option due to the flat having mould damage and being overpriced.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thelocal.de
