The end of the Golden Age of Airbnb in Budapest

The end of the Golden Age of Airbnb in Budapest. The Hungarian Parliament passed a law that will allow municipal authorities to impose restrictions on the rental of housing. For example, temporary: no more than 90 days a year, as in Madrid.

Thanks to Airbnb, Budapest became one of the most popular cities in Europe many years ago. In the hope of making money, owners turn entire houses in the city center into mini-hotels and constantly raise prices. Inhabitants of Budapest say tourists are crowding out citizens.

Here is what the mayor of the 6th district of Budapest, Tamas Soproni, said:

“All this has led to the fact that in our district today it is impossible to rent an apartment at a reasonable price. This problem must be solved somehow. But the fact is that if you limit only the number of rental days per year, then this problem cannot be solved. ”

Another proposal is to increase the minimum rental period in order to weed out those who take an apartment just to throw a one-night party there. Now that the possibilities for having fun are very limited, this option is gaining popularity. At the same time, residents of the center of the capital are ready to support the most stringent restrictive measures:

Even before the pandemic, almost as many places were leased through Airbnb as in hotels in the Hungarian capital. But safety rules, including coronavirus ones, vary greatly, and their compliance in rented apartments is checked much less often than in hotels.

Workers in the tourism sector, of course, are against such measures, especially now, against the backdrop of huge recession losses.

But Budapest is ready to join few cities in Europe that restrict the activities of Airbnb. The toughest measures have been taken in Amsterdam: it is forbidden to rent apartments in three districts of the city at all, in the rest – on weekends, and on weekdays – no more than 30 days a year.

Last summer, several capitals and major cities, including Paris, Berlin, Brussels and Barcelona, turned to the European authorities with a request to find a common “council” on Airbnb.

It looks like the truly Airbnb’s Golden Age in Budapest is coming to an end.

Source: https://ru.euronews.com/2020/07/15/hungary-budapest-airbnb

Video: https://youtu.be/nf3O1MzKUT0