House-Sharing Website Matches Roommates Based On Their DNA

How to create harmonious urban communities? House-sharing website SpareRoom is experimenting with DNA testing help people find the perfect roommate.

SpareRoom partnered with Swiss genetics Karmagenes to offer an analysis of individuals’ characters based on DNA profile and a personality test. Results of these tests include a detailed report about their personality which are compared to other profiles and matched if the personalities are complementary. SpareRoom hopes to create a livelihood of harmonious living with the complementary character paring — a chatty extravert could be a good match with a more relaxed introvert.

The DNA personality testing kit can be self-administered with a simple DNA swap, and provides up to 60% of a person’s personality. A detailed analysis, containing traits such as optimism, spontaneity, stress tolerance and risk-taking, is compared with an algorithm that matches DNA characteristics with personality traits. The housing site starts with DNA matching for their British users and aims to expand to the United States at the end of the year.