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Study: landlords prefer Swiss over immigrants

Caroline Bishop
Caroline Bishop - [email protected]
Study: landlords prefer Swiss over immigrants
Photo: Metro Centric

People with Swiss surnames are more likely to find rental accommodation in Switzerland than those with foreign names, according to a new study.

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Researchers at the university of Bern carried out the study on 1,000 housing adverts placed by landlords and housing associations.

Two responses were sent to each advert – one with a Swiss name and the other with a foreign name.

Interestingly, 79.8 percent of those with the Swiss name were invited to come and view the property, against 75.7 percent of those with the foreign name.

Reacting to the results in a statement reported by news agency ATS, immigrant support organization Gewahlte Stimme said the findings showed systematic prejudice existed in Switzerland.

The study was “only the tip of the iceberg,” it said.

However the findings are not consistent across the country.

In Zurich and central Switzerland prejudices against immigrant house-hunters are relatively rare, said the study, and practically non-existent in the north-west of the country.

Conversely, eastern Switzerland showed the highest level of discrimination.

Neither is discrimination felt by all immigrant groups, according to the study.

People with Serbian, Croatian or Albanian names are relatively well-received by potential landlords.

However having a name of Arab, Tamil or Eritrean origin reduces the person’s chances of being invited to view a property by five percent.

The results were conservative when compared with a further study carried out by the National Coalition Building Institute Suisse (NCBI) on 100 letting adverts.

According to NCBI Suisse, Eritreans have a 21 percent risk of being discriminated against, and Albanians a 15 percent risk.

Gewahlte Stimme members are demanding that the federal government address the issue by passing legislation against discrimination in the housing market.

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