Locals in the Terézváros district were given the opportunity to decide on the issue – with over 6,000 taking part in the vote.
While turnout was low (20.52 percent), 54 percent voted in favour of a ban which is set to come into effect from 1 January 2026.
“The next step is to present the will of the residents of Terézváros to the Budapest city council and pass a decree based on their decision,” said Terezváros Mayor Tamás Soproni.
“I consider it important that the change will only take effect on 1 January 2026, giving businesses time to prepare for the transition.
“The residents of the district have set an example of how to use democratic tools and have made a decision about the type of district they want to live in.”
The decision reflects wider concerns about the effects short-term rentals have on the property market, with local residents increasingly finding themselves priced out by speculative foreign investors.
According to local property website ingatlan.com, house prices in Budapest have tripled since 2015.
Backlash
The decision reflects wider concerns regarding the social impact STRs can have, with noise and anti-social behaviour frequently cited by residents.
A growing number of European cities are now enacting restrictions on the market, the pace of which has picked up considerably over the past year.
Last month, Athens announced it would implement a ban on new Airbnb rentals in three of its central districts.
Under the new regulations, new short-term rental permits will be prohibited for at least one year in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd municipal districts of the city.
In June, Barcelona announced plans for a citywide ban on all STRs from 2029 amid mounting concerns that locals were being pushed out of the housing market.
The city’s mayor’s Jaume Collboni said he was confronting Barcelona’s “largest problem”, adding there were now over 10,000 apartments registered as rentals for tourists.
In April 2024, Madrid said it will pause granting new licences for tourist flats to try and ease pressure on the market, and it is expected the suspension will last until 2025.
London, Dublin, Amsterdam and Paris have placed limits on the number of nights an apartment can be rented annually on the market, while Berlin went further in 2016 with a ban on short-stay lets of entire homes.
The German capital’s measure proved difficult to police however and was revoked in 2018 and replaced with more relaxed rules but higher fines.
Residents in Lisbon are also hoping to emulate Budapest’s vote, and are currently campaigning for a citywide referendum on banning STRs.
Overtourism
While STRs have come under the spotlight in recent years, the phenomenon of overtourism extends beyond the sector.
In August, the Belgian city of Bruges announced tighter restrictions on both STRs and the hotel industry, saying the city is simply too crowded.
“People have started indicating that there are just too many visitors,” Bruges Mayor Dirk De fauw told The Brussels Times last month.
“If we just let everyone do what they want, things will quickly go wrong.”
The city has implemented a ban on the construction of new hotels in its historic centre and has also stopped issuing new holiday home permits across the entire city.
Cities Today contacted Airbnb for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
Image: arvydas-venckus-unsplash
