The European Commission will propose a new legislative initiative on short-term rentals in 2026 to curb speculation. Brussels, which presented this measure on Tuesday as part of a broader strategy to end the housing crisis facing the EU, seeks to establish a common legal framework for the entire Union, so that local authorities can take action on this type of rentals, in particular, says the Community Executive, in areas of high pressure. This formula saw growth of almost 93% between 2028 and 2024 in the EU and contributed, says Brussels, to limiting the supply of affordable housing for local residents, particularly in very popular destinations, where these apartments, almost always managed by platforms online, They can represent up to 20% of the real estate stock.
Brussels wants to provide responses of this type to the housing crisis, a problem common to many member states. This is part of the new affordable housing strategy, which gives a series of guidelines and recommends less bureaucracy in housing permits to bring an additional 650,000 apartments to the market per year. As announced by EL PAÍS, the European Commission will also review the rules relating to state aid, public aid which is governed by a very specific margin, with limitations to apply. With this measure, which will open its hand in this area, it seeks to facilitate investments in housing.
To this end, the European Commission is creating a new category called “affordable housing”, which covers households who are not in a disadvantaged situation, but who, due to market conditions and in particular its deficiencies, cannot access affordable housing. Member States may define support arrangements, target groups, eligibility criteria, housing price, quality and accessibility standards, depending on their housing context and needs.
Access to affordable housing is a major concern for many people in the EU, warned Teresa Ribera, vice-president for a fair, clean and competitive transition and responsible for competition issues, in a press release. “We need joint efforts from different parties and a wide range of measures,” he said. And he stressed that ensuring sufficient housing availability requires long-term investments. “Our review of state aid rules makes it easier for public authorities to invest in social and affordable housing,” he added.
Property prices have risen significantly across Europe. Since 2013, they have grown in nominal terms by more than 60% across the EU, at a faster rate than incomes. In Spain, the increase was also greater: 72%, compared to 26.6% in France, 13.3% in Italy or 51.3% in Germany, according to a report from the European Council published in October. The European Commission is thus looking into the problem of housing, an issue on which it has very limited powers, since they are in the hands of the Member States or even regional and local authorities, but which was one of the key points of the inauguration agreement of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, with the socialists and democrats.
High demand
The Community Executive thus touches on three points: that of construction, in which it seeks to reduce bureaucracy and promote the development of affordable and sustainable housing; State aid to support affordable housing projects without prior notification or authorization from the Commission when conditions are met, while maintaining its existing social housing programs; and new regulations on tourist rentals, still under discussion and which will be added to the regulations on short-term rentals, applicable in May 2026.
“It is necessary to preserve the benefits of short-term rentals for citizens, while reducing the negative impacts,” the Commission says in the strategy. “Certain neighborhoods, particularly in urban centers, but also in other tourist hotspots, are under severe pressure to access housing,” says the document, which warns that in these areas with high housing demand, the rapid expansion of short-term rentals, coupled with speculative investment practices, is intensifying competition for limited housing stock, driving up prices.
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