Even in weak market, racial bias trumps profit for many Singapore landlords
While real estate portals taking steps to stamp out discrimination, experts say legislation would be difficult to enforce
In Singapore, many landlords prefer leaving their units empty to renting to certain ethnic groups.
Owners of private residential properties routinely exclude individuals from tenancy based on ethnicity, even explicitly stating in advertisements that requirements are “no Indians/ PRC” (slang for People’s Republic of China) or “no Malay.”
As of late February, at least 49 listings across popular housing portals PropertyGuru, Craigslist, and Gumtree clearly stated that at least one of those three ethnicities were not eligible tenants. These ads are typically placed by real estate agents, who often find themselves in the position of sieving out tenants on behalf of unit owners’ ethnic preferences.
But even when housing ads don’t state ethnic preferences outright, many Singapore renters told CNBC they still experience prejudice.
Such discriminatory practices — in a country where interracial harmony is a matter of law — target both foreigners and locals, and is so ingrained for some that it even flourishes amid unfavourable market dynamics.
An overflow of supply and fewer well-paid foreign workers have pushed residential rents lower over the years, making Singapore a true tenant’s market. Since January 2016, SRX Property’s monthly rental price index for private apartments and condos has contracted five per cent on-year and is nearly 19 per cent below its January 2013 peak.
Private home vacancies hit a 16-year high of 8.9 per cent in the second-quarter of 2016 before improving to 8.4 per cent in the fourth-quarter.