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A decisive vote will be held in September in District 6 of Budapest (Terézváros) on the short-term renting of apartments, Airbnbs, the municipality of the district announced, reports Turizmus.com.
Residents of the district will be asked the question: “Do you agree with banning the renting out of condominiums as Airbnb-type accommodation in District 6?”
The vote will be conducted by the municipality, under a mandate from Parliament, with the power to limit the number of days a year for which a property can be rented out.
The municipality pointed out that since there is no legal means to control “whether a dwelling can be rented out for 60, 75 or, for example, 130 days a year, the vote could be a total ban or a choice between residents keeping everything as it is”.
Mayor Tamás Soproni said: “voting will run for two weeks from September 2 and is open to residents aged 16 and over, both online and in person.”
There are currently 2,226 legal private and other accommodation establishments in Terézváros. According to data from the Central Statistical Office (KSH), on January 1, 2023, there were 29,251 dwellings in the district, meaning that short-term rentals account for about 7.6 percent of the total housing stock.
To help the decision, the municipality is preparing a brochure on the arguments for and against the total ban, which will be distributed to all households before the vote.
Budapest would not be the first metropolis to make such a decision.
In Barcelona, it was announced in June that short-term rentals will be banned from 2028, while in New York, Airbnb restrictions have been in place since September 2023, therefore the city is already seeing the effects of the regulation.
The building of the Hungarian State Opera House, located in Andrássy Avenue in District 6. Photo via Facebook/Fidesz Budapest
Despite the initiative, however, data show that in June this year, Airbnb dominated as a type of accommodation in the Hungarian capital. Furthermore, June saw an improvement in accommodation revenue statistics, with both the average price of rooms and revenue per available room rising in all tourism regions. As a result, domestic accommodation establishments typically managed to increase their revenues year-on-year.
In June 2024, 1.8 million guests stayed in tourist accommodation (commercial, private and other) for nearly 4.2 million nights.
The number of guests was 11 percent higher and the number of nights 3.1 percent higher than a year earlier.
The really interesting data is that the number of apartments for short-term rent in Budapest has been rising dramatically for some time, largely thanks to Airbnb. This June, the capacity of available apartments (private accommodation) increased by 41 percent compared to June last year.
Statistics on overnight stays show that in the first six months of this year private accommodation has grown far ahead of all other types of accommodation.
Revenue figures show that private accommodation turnover is up by almost 50% year-on-year (HUF 3.74 billion vs. HUF 2.52 billion; EUR 9.4 million vs. EUR 6.3 million). In light of the data, it is relatively safe to say that Airbnb and short-term accommodation platforms are driving part of the growth in guest numbers in Budapest. However, growth is putting pressure on all accommodation types (including apartments themselves) in terms of average price and occupancy.
Via Turizmus.com; Featured image via Pexels