Budapest’s District I will hold a consultative vote on the future of short-term apartment rentals, asking residents whether Airbnb-style accommodation should be banned entirely or allowed under stricter municipal conditions.
All District I residents aged 18 or over with a permanent address in the district will be eligible to participate. The municipality will ask whether residents support a complete ban on short-term apartment rentals. If they do not, a second question will ask whether the local council should instead impose specific operating conditions on such accommodation.
Residents will receive information by post, while the municipality has also opened a dedicated online voting platform requiring an individual identification code. The final regulation could even differ between individual parts of District I, depending on the outcome of the consultation.
Mayor László Böröcz said the municipality wants to preserve Budavár as a residential district while recognising that tourism and short-term rentals generate income for property owners and customers for local restaurants, shops and service businesses.
More than 80% of Budapest’s Airbnb supply is concentrated in six districts
According to an ingatlan.com analysis cited by Hungarian media, Budapest has close to 9,800 condominium apartments operating as Airbnb-style accommodation, with more than 80% located in just six central districts: I, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX.
While short-term rentals account for around 1% of Budapest’s total housing stock, the share rises above 4% across these six inner districts. AirDNA data cited in the same analysis showed 8,125 actively booked short-term rental apartments across the central districts, compared with a combined housing stock of around 198,000 units.
District VII had the largest supply, with more than 3,200 short-term rental apartments, followed by District VIII with over 1,700 and District V with close to 1,200.
District VI ban already reshapes rental supply
Budapest already has one major example of a complete local ban. District VI, Terézváros, prohibited short-term apartment rentals from January 1, 2026, following a local vote held in 2024.
By May, the number of Airbnb-style apartments operating in the district had fallen by around 60% year-on-year to 837 units, according to ingatlan.com data. At the same time, the supply of apartments advertised for long-term rent increased 34% to 1,330 listings, while enquiries for rental homes in District VI rose 32% year-on-year.
