The European Union is preparing new legislation that would give cities across Europe the legal tools to restrict Airbnb ...

The European Union is preparing new legislation that would give cities across Europe the legal tools to restrict Airbnb and other short-term rental platforms. The incoming law, called the Affordable Housing Act, would set criteria allowing cities and regions to impose proportional limits on short-term rentals to ease housing pressure. Short-term rentals make up just 1.2% of total housing stock across the EU on average, but in tourist-heavy destinations the numbers look very different. In Sorrento, Italy, Dubrovnik, Croatia, and Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, holiday rentals account for up to 20% of all available housing, according to research from the EU's Joint Research Centre. Cities including Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Florence, Paris, and Athens have already moved to restrict short-term rentals in recent years, using licensing systems and caps on the number of nights a property can be rented. Barcelona is going further, aiming to ban apartment rentals to tourists entirely by 2028. The problem many cities face is legal uncertainty. Florence introduced a licensing system and a moratorium on new short-term rentals in its historic center, but has since faced dozens of legal challenges from property owners and tourism groups. The Tuscany regional court ruled in the city's favor, though the case can still be appealed. Florence has since extended its moratorium to cover 44% of its residential housing stock. Property owners and platforms have argued that these restrictions violate EU free-service laws. Airbnb's head of EU government affairs, Yiorgos Mavros, said it is "very unlikely" that strict short-term rental limits would meaningfully affect housing prices, warning they do carry "real, very specific economic impact" on affected cities. Across the EU, home prices rose by nearly two-thirds between 2015 and 2025, while rents climbed by more than a fifth over the same period, according to Eurostat. JRC research did find a positive correlation between short-term rental density and higher housing costs, though the link was stronger for sale prices than for long-term rents. The new EU legislation is still being drafted, but pressure from major cities i...