The European Commission has proposed new housing rules that could give national and local authorities a clearer framework for restricting how residential property is used in places facing serious housing pressure. The proposal goes beyond Airbnb. It could cover short-term rentals, second homes, persistently empty properties and other non-primary uses of housing.
Importantly, the EU is not proposing an Airbnb ban or requiring governments to introduce these restrictions. It is setting out the conditions authorities would have to meet if they decide to intervene to protect housing availability and affordability.
To me, that is one of the most interesting parts of the proposal. Local governments could gain greater power to intervene, but they would also have to justify what they are doing.
How Would Housing Stress Be Measured?
One of the main tests would compare average property prices with disposable income per person.
An area could meet this part of the housing-stress test where an average-sized home costs at least eight times annual net disposable household income per person. The Commission would calculate this using average transaction prices and Eurostat household-income data.
In simple terms, imagine disposable income in a particular part of Budapest were HUF 550,000 per person per month.
That would be HUF 6.6 million a year. Eight times that amount is HUF 52.8 million.
If the average home price there were HUF 52.8 million or more, it would reach the proposed eight-times price-to-income threshold.
This is only an illustration of how the calculation works. It is not a claim that any particular part of Budapest currently meets the test.
What Could This Mean for Short-Term Rentals?
Before introducing housing-based restrictions on short-term rentals, authorities would have to show that the activity had significantly harmed housing availability or affordability for at least three years.
They would also have to consider whether a less restrictive measure could achieve a similar result. Measures could be geographically targeted at a district, neighbourhood or other part of a city and could not cover a larger area than necessary.
There is another important distinction for property owners.
Housing-based short-term rental restrictions under the proposal would focus on accommodation that is not the host's primary residence. That separates somebody renting their own home from an investment or other property being used for short-term accommodation.
If a local authority used these new EU rules to restrict short-term rentals because of their effect on housing availability or affordability, that restriction could generally remain in place for a maximum of five years. After that, the authority would have to reassess whether the restriction was still necessary.
For Budapest, this comes on top of rules already moving in the same direction. The capital has a moratorium on registering new short-term accommodation until the end of 2026, while Terézváros introduced its zero-day rule from January 2026.
What About Empty Homes?
The proposal could also provide a framework for measures addressing second homes and properties left empty for prolonged periods, while requiring justified periods of non-occupation to be taken into account.
That is particularly relevant to Hungary.
European Commission figures put the number of vacant homes at around 570,000, or roughly 12–13% of the country's housing stock.
But that headline number needs context. Many of those properties are in poor condition, require substantial renovation or are located in places where housing demand is low.
For Budapest property owners, the important point is not that another round of restrictions is inevitable.
It is that future intervention could become more targeted, with authorities given a clearer framework to act where they can demonstrate a genuine housing problem.