Hungary: The Hungarian Government has announced a planned two-year moratorium on new short-term rental registrations in Budapest.
The measures, which are designed to address the capital’s growing housing crisis, are due to come into effect on 1 January 2025, meaning that no new private or short-term accommodations will be allowed to be registered between that date and 31 December 2026.
The moratorium is part of the government’s New Economic Policy Action Plan, which includes 21 different measures that aim to alleviate the housing crisis and boost economic stability. The government is also seeking to achieve economic growth rate of between three and six per cent in the year ahead.
As per the draft legislation, there will be a sharp increase in taxes for short-term rentals in Budapest to pay from January. The annual flat tax per room, which has remained unchanged for seven years, is set to quadruple from HUF 38,400 [€92.79] to HUF 150,000 [€362.45] next year.
Hungary’s Ministry of National Economy estimates that 140,000 households in Budapest [almost 18 per cent of total households] live on long-term leases, which it says has dropped significantly due to the proliferation of short-term rental listings in the capital city. It has been reported that there are currently almost 26,000 rooms offered out as short-term rentals in Budapest.
Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony has attributed the city’s housing crisis to a number of factors, including a lack of municipal rental housing, inadequate short-term rental regulations and investment-driven housing purchases by foreign buyers. In October, Karácsony proposed a two-year moratorium on property purchases for investment purposes by citizens from outside the European Economic Area, which was then approved by the Municipal Assembly.
To further address the lack of affordable housing, the mayor is advocating for building more rental accommodation, increasing the number of residences, and introducing stricter short-term rental regulations – part of his ten-point housing reform plan.
In September, residents in Terézváros, the District VI of Budapest, narrowly voted to ban short-term rentals in the district in a referendum. The restrictions, which had been positioned as “an interesting democratic experiment” by the local council, are due to come into effect from 1 January 2026.
