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Nearly half of online rental listings in the Klang Valley contain racial preferences as a key requirement for tenants, according to a study by Architects of Diversity (AOD)
The study analysed 35,367 room rental listings on an online platform in February 2026 and found that 42.8% of advertisements excluded at least one ethnic group.
According to the NGO, the findings suggest that almost one in two listings deliberately denied rental opportunities based on race, even when applicants are financially qualified.
AOD also pointed out that the platform has a built-in feature allowing landlords and agents to select preferred tenant races, which enabled them to analyse the extent of the discrimination.
The data showed that Indian Malaysians faced the highest level of exclusion, with a rejection rate of 31.7% across Klang Valley listings
This is significantly higher compared to Malays (7.6%) and Chinese tenants (3.9%).
The report also found many listings openly state restrictions such as "Malay only" or "Chinese only".
While 96.1% of listings accepted Chinese tenants and 92.4% accepted Malays, only 68.3% were open to Indian tenants.
Additionally, 21.3% of listings specifically excluded Indian applicants while accepting other races.
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Image via yanalya/FreepikAOD executive director Jason Wee said the issue stems partly from the lack of legal protections and the way rental platforms are designed
"Malaysia still lacks laws that specifically prohibit racial discrimination in the private rental market. Therefore, homeowners can openly reject tenants based on race, and discriminated tenants have no legal recourse," he said, as quoted by the New Straits Times.
He also said platforms that allow landlords to filter tenants by race cannot be considered neutral and should be held accountable for enabling discrimination at scale.
Wee also said previous studies found that many homeowners justified racial preferences based on past negative experiences.
"Most of them do not see racial preference as discrimination, which we find deeply concerning," he said.
The NGO is now calling for cooperation between the government, rental platforms, and the public to address the issue.
