Where Is Airbnb Banned or Restricted in 2026? City-by-City Rules for Travelers and Property Investors

Updated October 7, 2026

Buying an apartment in a tourist city and turning it into a short-term rental once looked like one of the simplest property-investment strategies in the world.

In 2026, that assumption can be expensive.

New York severely restricts whole-home stays shorter than 30 days. Budapest’s District VI has reduced the legal number of private short-term rental days to zero. Athens has frozen new registrations across its first three municipal districts through the end of 2026. Paris limits tourist letting of a primary residence to 90 days a year. Amsterdam has cut the annual allowance to only 15 nights in some central neighbourhoods and, just this week, proposed extending that tighter limit to another area.

Barcelona is going further: the city intends not to renew its 10,101 existing tourist-flat licences when they expire in 2028.

At the same time, a new European Union regulation governing short-term rental data and registration has applied across the EU since May 20, 2026. It does not itself ban Airbnb, but it gives authorities a much stronger framework for identifying and enforcing local short-term rental rules.

For property investors, this changes the question.

It is no longer enough to ask:

“How much can this apartment earn on Airbnb?”

The first question should now be:

“Can this property legally operate as a short-term rental at all?”

Airbnb Restrictions in 2026: Quick City-by-City Comparison

City	2026 position	What investors need to know
Barcelona	Existing licensed tourist flats remain for now, but 10,101 licences are planned not to be renewed in 2028	Buying today specifically for future tourist-flat income carries major regulatory risk
New York City	Whole-home rentals under 30 days generally prohibited in permanent residential buildings	Host must generally stay with guests; registration required
Budapest District VI	Effectively banned from January 1, 2026	Annual permitted private accommodation days set at zero
Budapest overall	No new STR registrations through December 31, 2026	Existing registered hosts outside District VI may continue subject to local rules
Athens Districts 1, 2 and 3	No first-time STR registrations through December 31, 2026	Existing registered properties are not automatically cancelled
Paris	Primary residence: maximum 90 tourist-rental days annually	Second homes face much stricter change-of-use requirements
Amsterdam	Normally 30 nights; 15 nights in parts of Centrum and De Pijp	Permit, registration and advance reporting required
London	Maximum 90 nights annually without planning permission	Above 90 nights generally requires planning permission
San Francisco	Primary-residence model; unhosted rentals capped at 90 nights	Investor-owned second homes generally cannot simply become STRs

The biggest lesson is that “Airbnb banned” is usually too simplistic.

Cities regulate the underlying short-term rental activity—not just one platform. Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and similar platforms can all be affected.

1. Barcelona: Tourist Apartments Are Heading Toward a 2028 Phase-Out

Barcelona has adopted one of the most aggressive policies among major European tourist cities.

The city currently has approximately 10,101 licensed tourist-use homes, known locally as HUTs.

Barcelona City Council has stated that it intends not to renew those licences when the current authorisations expire in 2028, with the aim of returning more than 10,000 properties to ordinary residential use.

The practical deadline derives from Catalonia’s 2023 regulatory changes, which created a five-year transition for existing tourist accommodation licences.

Reuters reported when the policy was announced that Barcelona planned to eliminate tourist-apartment licences by November 2028.

Is Airbnb banned in Barcelona in 2026?

Not yet.

A properly licensed tourist apartment can still operate in 2026.

The critical issue for an investor is that buying a property today does not mean you can obtain a new tourist licence, and the city has already announced its intention not to renew the existing pool in 2028.

That turns an Airbnb-focused property purchase into a very different investment proposition.

If a property's valuation assumes many years of high nightly tourist income after 2028, the buyer needs to rework those numbers.

What Barcelona Property Investors Should Calculate Instead

Before purchasing, calculate whether the property still works economically as:

a conventional long-term rental, a legally structured temporary residential rental where applicable, or an owner-occupied property.

Do not assume that simply changing the stay from seven nights to several weeks automatically avoids every housing rule.

Spanish residential and temporary-tenancy law is separate from tourist-accommodation regulation, and the actual purpose and structure of the tenancy matter.

For readers following Spain’s wider affordability debate, this also connects directly with the country’s ongoing housing crisis, rapid home-price growth and pressure for stronger rental regulation.

Suggested internal link: Spain Housing Crisis 2026: Madrid Protests, Rent Rules and Rising Property Prices.

2. New York City: Not a Total Ban, but Whole-Home Airbnb Is Extremely Restricted

New York is probably the clearest example of why “Airbnb is banned” can be misleading.

New York City itself explicitly says short-term rentals are not completely banned.

But the permitted model is extremely narrow.

For rentals of fewer than 30 consecutive days in normal permanent residential housing, an entire apartment or home generally cannot be handed over to tourists.

The host must normally remain in the same dwelling, there can be no more than two paying guests, and the host must hold a short-term rental registration.

Booking platforms are prohibited from processing transactions for unregistered short-term rentals.

That makes the traditional investment model—

buy apartment → furnish it → leave the property → rent entire apartment nightly

—largely incompatible with New York City's rules for ordinary residential buildings.

How Much Did New York’s Short-Term Rental Market Shrink?

The city says there are now only around 3,000 active short-term rental registrations, compared with tens of thousands of illegal or active listings before enforcement of Local Law 18.

New York's Office of Special Enforcement says there had been more than 38,000 active listings on one site at the beginning of 2023 and estimates that its rules removed tens of thousands of illegal rentals.

An August 2026 academic study found that affected Airbnb listings fell approximately 87% after enforcement, although it found little evidence of a large first-year reduction in asking rents.

Airbnb itself has cited declines above 90%, but because the company is actively campaigning for changes to the law, its figures should be understood in that context.

The safest conclusion is simple:

New York’s traditional whole-apartment short-term rental market has contracted dramatically.

Can Investors Use 30-Day Rentals Instead in New York?

Rentals of 30 consecutive days or more are outside the city's short-term rental registration definition.

That makes furnished mid-term housing potentially interesting for:

corporate relocations, visiting professionals, medical stays, temporary workers and people between permanent homes.

But a 30-day stay is not a regulatory loophole that removes every other obligation.

Longer rentals can trigger normal landlord-tenant, lease, building and occupancy rules.

Investors need to price and operate them as genuine longer-term housing.

3. Budapest District VI: A Genuine Short-Term Rental Ban

Budapest provides one of the clearest true-ban examples.

In Terézváros, Budapest’s District VI, the local government set the permissible annual number of days for private and other short-term accommodation services at:

0 days.

The restriction took effect on January 1, 2026.

Hungary's Supreme Court rejected a legal challenge, allowing the regulation to enter into force.

So in this district, describing Airbnb-type private accommodation as effectively banned is accurate.

But Airbnb Is Not Banned Across All of Budapest

The distinction matters.

Outside District VI, rules differ.

Budapest is also operating under a citywide moratorium on new short-term rental registrations from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2026.

Existing registered hosts outside areas with stricter district-level rules can continue operating subject to their applicable requirements.

That means:

District VI = zero-day short-term rental rule

while:

Budapest overall = new-registration freeze through the end of 2026, plus district-specific regulations.

A Budapest property investor therefore needs to know the exact district before calculating expected rental income.

4. Athens: New Airbnb Registrations Frozen in Central Districts

Athens has chosen a different strategy.

Rather than cancelling all existing legal short-term rentals, Greece has frozen first-time registrations in the Short-Term Rental Property Registry for properties in Athens Municipal Districts:

1, 2 and 3.

The freeze has been extended through December 31, 2026.

The restriction therefore targets growth in the number of registered properties rather than automatically shutting existing registered accommodation.

That difference is critical for someone buying an apartment.

An existing legal registration attached to a property does not mean a newly purchased apartment beside it can automatically receive another one.

Investors need to confirm the current treatment of the specific property before purchase.

Greece has also extended a similar temporary restriction to Thessaloniki's first municipal community for the second half of 2026.

5. Paris: 90 Days for a Primary Residence, Much Tougher Rules for Second Homes

Paris has not prohibited all vacation rentals.

Instead, it has made the distinction between your actual home and an investment property extremely important.

A primary residence can generally be rented as furnished tourist accommodation for up to:

90 days per year.

Registration is mandatory, and the registration number must appear in the listing.

A primary residence is generally a home occupied by the resident for at least eight months of the year.

Buying a Paris Apartment Just for Airbnb Is Much Harder

For a property that is not the owner's primary residence, Paris requires a change-of-use authorisation with compensation before it can legally operate as a furnished tourist rental.

The compensation mechanism is designed to offset housing removed from the long-term residential market, often by creating residential space elsewhere from non-residential premises.

The city also publishes substantial penalties.

Exceeding the 90-day primary-residence limit can result in fines of up to €10,000, while illegally operating a second home as tourist accommodation without the required use authorisation can expose an owner to much larger penalties.

Paris is therefore not an outright Airbnb ban.

It is a market where the commercial investment model is substantially harder than casual home sharing.

6. Amsterdam: Only 15 Nights in Some Central Neighbourhoods

Amsterdam's restrictions became even tighter in 2026.

Across most of the city, residents can rent their home or houseboat to tourists for no more than:

30 nights per calendar year.

The host must live and be registered at the address, obtain a holiday-rental permit, have a tourist-rental registration number and report each rental period before guests arrive. Maximum occupancy is generally four guests.

But eight areas in Centrum and De Pijp now have a much stricter:

15-night annual limit.

Those tighter rules took effect in 2026.

Amsterdam Is Already Considering Another Tightening

This is the newest development in this article.

On October 5, 2026, Amsterdam announced a proposal to reduce holiday rentals in Helmersbuurt from 30 nights to 15 nights a year beginning January 1, 2027.

The proposal is open for public comment through November 8. If adopted, Helmersbuurt would become the ninth neighbourhood operating under the 15-night cap.

For an investor, that demonstrates why today's legal limit cannot be assumed to last for the entire ownership period.

Regulation can tighten neighbourhood by neighbourhood.

7. London: The 90-Night Rule Still Matters

London allows short-term letting of a residential property without planning permission—but only within defined limits.

A dwelling can generally be used for short-term accommodation for a maximum of:

90 nights in a calendar year

without the use being treated as a material change requiring planning permission.

At least one person providing the accommodation must also be liable for Council Tax at the property.

Once the property exceeds the 90-night annual limit, planning permission is generally required.

That means an investor buying a London flat solely to operate it as a 365-day vacation rental cannot simply rely on the standard home-sharing exemption.

London also continues to discuss improved registration and enforcement because councils have found the existing limit difficult to police.

8. San Francisco: You Generally Need to Live in the Property

San Francisco uses a strong primary-residence model.

A short-term rental host must generally be the permanent resident of the property and occupy it for at least:

275 nights per calendar year.

When the host is absent, unhosted short-term rentals are limited to:

90 nights per year.

Hosted stays—where the resident remains in the home—do not have the same 90-night annual cap, subject to the city's other requirements.

This effectively blocks the straightforward model of purchasing a second property solely to operate it as a full-time Airbnb.

San Francisco also requires short-term rental registration and other compliance steps.

The EU Has a New Short-Term Rental Regulation in Force

Europe's regulatory landscape changed materially this year.

EU Regulation 2024/1028 has applied since May 20, 2026.

The regulation creates a common framework around registration and data collection for short-term accommodation services where member states or local authorities operate registration procedures.

Platforms can be required to transmit relevant activity data to public authorities through digital systems.

But this point needs to be stated accurately:

The EU regulation does not itself impose a Europe-wide Airbnb ban or a single annual night cap.

Barcelona can have one system.

Paris can have another.

Amsterdam can impose a 15-night limit in some neighbourhoods.

National and local rules still determine whether and how a property can be rented.

The EU framework makes those rules easier to monitor and enforce.

More EU Restrictions Could Still Be Coming

The regulatory direction may tighten further.

In September 2026, the European Commission proposed additional rules designed to give authorities a clearer framework for restricting short-term rentals in areas experiencing severe housing pressure.

The proposal could support evidence-based measures such as local quantitative limits, but it still requires the European legislative process and should not be treated as current final law.

That distinction matters for investors reading headlines about an “EU Airbnb crackdown.”

One set of EU rules is already operational.

The newer housing-related framework is still a proposal.

Which Cities Actually Ban Airbnb in 2026?

If “ban” means tourists cannot legally use Airbnb anywhere in the city under any circumstances, very few major cities fit that description.

A more useful classification is:

Effective local ban: Budapest District VI.

Future phase-out: Barcelona tourist flats by 2028 under the city's announced non-renewal policy.

Near-ban for whole-home tourist rentals: New York City under 30 days in ordinary permanent residential housing.

Registration freeze: Central Athens and Budapest citywide for new registrations.

Strict annual cap: Paris, Amsterdam, London and San Francisco.

That is much more accurate than publishing a viral list saying:

“These eight cities banned Airbnb.”

They did not all do the same thing.

What This Means for Property Investors

Short-term rental regulation can completely alter a property's value as an investment.

Consider two identical apartments.

Apartment A can legally operate 250 nights per year.

Apartment B can legally operate only 30.

Even if both properties have the same purchase price and tourist demand, they do not have the same business model.

That means a serious buyer should calculate value under at least two scenarios:

legal short-term rental income

and

ordinary long-term rental income.

If the deal only works under the first scenario, regulatory risk is unusually high.

Never Buy Based Only on the Existing Airbnb Listing

One of the easiest mistakes is seeing a property advertised as:

“Successful Airbnb generating €60,000 a year.”

That proves past revenue.

It does not necessarily prove future legal operating rights.

Before buying, independently check whether the licence or registration:

transfers with the property, belongs to the host personally, expires after sale, is limited by zoning, or can be renewed.

New York registrations are tied to qualifying permanent occupants.

Barcelona's tourist-flat licences are heading toward non-renewal.

San Francisco requires primary residency.

Budapest can change rules by district.

The income statement is only half the due diligence.

Mid-Term Rentals Are Becoming the Main Alternative

As nightly tourist rentals become harder to operate, investors are increasingly looking at mid-term furnished rentals.

Typical customers include:

corporate employees on assignment, relocating families, university researchers, travelling medical professionals, consultants and people renovating their permanent homes.

This model can offer longer occupancy and lower turnover than tourist accommodation.

It can also reduce dependence on holiday-season demand.

New York provides the clearest example: stays of 30 consecutive days or more fall outside its short-term rental registration framework.

But investors should not turn “30+ days” into a universal rule.

There is no single worldwide definition of a mid-term rental.

A longer stay can instead become subject to residential tenancy protections, notice periods, deposit rules and tax requirements.

The correct strategy is not:

“How do I avoid Airbnb rules?”

It is:

“Which legal rental category suits this property and market?”

Long-Term Rentals May Produce Lower Revenue but Lower Regulatory Risk

A conventional residential lease usually produces less gross revenue than a successful nightly rental in a major tourist destination.

But gross revenue is not profit.

Short-term properties can require:

cleaning, platform fees, furnishing replacement, utilities, guest management, higher wear, tourist taxes, licence costs and vacancy management.

Long-term rental income is often more predictable.

So investors should compare:

net short-term income

against

net long-term income

rather than comparing the nightly Airbnb price with monthly rent.

In heavily regulated cities, the supposedly lower-return model can sometimes deliver the more reliable investment.

Travelers Also Need to Pay Attention

These regulations are not only an investor issue.

A traveller booking an illegal apartment can face:

last-minute cancellation, listing removal, access problems or disputes when a city takes enforcement action.

Before paying for accommodation in a tightly regulated market, check whether the listing shows any locally required registration or licence information.

Be especially careful with offers that ask you to:

pay outside the platform, communicate only through private messaging, or ignore missing registration details because the host says “everybody does it.”

A cheaper accommodation price is not valuable if the reservation disappears days before arrival.

The Biggest Mistake: Treating Every City the Same

Short-term rental regulations have become intensely local.

In 2026:

Amsterdam can change the limit neighbourhood by neighbourhood.

Budapest can impose rules district by district.

Athens can freeze new registrations only in selected municipal districts.

Barcelona can phase out tourist licences citywide.

New York can permit hosted stays while effectively blocking ordinary whole-apartment tourist rentals.

That fragmentation is likely to increase rather than disappear.

Property investors therefore need to analyse regulation almost as carefully as they analyse purchase price.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Airbnb banned in 2026?

Very few large cities impose a literal platform-wide ban. Budapest's District VI has effectively prohibited private Airbnb-style short-term accommodation by setting the permitted annual rental period at zero from January 1, 2026.

Is Airbnb banned in Barcelona?

Not in 2026. Existing properly licensed tourist flats can still operate, but Barcelona plans not to renew approximately 10,101 tourist-flat licences when they expire in 2028.

Is Airbnb banned in New York City?

New York City says no, but whole-home rentals of fewer than 30 days are generally prohibited in permanent residential housing. Legal short-term hosting normally requires the host to stay in the dwelling, registration and a maximum of two paying guests.

Can you Airbnb in Budapest in 2026?

Rules vary by district. District VI has an effective zero-day ban, while Budapest also has a moratorium on new short-term rental registrations through December 31, 2026.

Is Airbnb banned in Athens?

No. Greece has instead prohibited first-time short-term rental registrations in Athens Municipal Districts 1, 2 and 3 through December 31, 2026.

How many days can I Airbnb my home in Paris?

A qualifying primary residence can generally be rented as furnished tourist accommodation for up to 90 days per year, subject to registration and other requirements.

How many Airbnb nights are allowed in Amsterdam?

Normally 30 nights per calendar year, but designated areas of Centrum and De Pijp have a 15-night cap.

What is London's Airbnb limit?

A London home can generally be short-term let for no more than 90 nights per calendar year without planning permission.

Can I buy a property in San Francisco solely for Airbnb?

The ordinary short-term rental system generally requires the host to use the property as a primary residence and occupy it for at least 275 nights per year, making a pure investment-property STR model difficult.

Did the EU ban Airbnb in 2026?

No. EU Regulation 2024/1028 took effect on May 20, 2026 and strengthens registration and data-sharing systems for short-term accommodation. Individual countries and cities still decide their local restrictions.

Final Takeaway

The global short-term rental market has changed.

The old property-investment formula was:

buy in tourist city → furnish apartment → list it online → maximise nightly rate.

In 2026, the more realistic sequence is:

check zoning and STR law → verify registration availability → understand annual night limits → model long-term and mid-term alternatives → only then calculate purchase returns.

Barcelona demonstrates the risk of long-term regulatory change.

New York demonstrates how registration rules can effectively eliminate most traditional whole-home tourist rentals.

Budapest shows that a district can go all the way to a zero-day limit.

Athens shows how governments can stop new supply without cancelling every existing host.

Paris, Amsterdam, London and San Francisco show that home sharing can remain legal while full-time investment hosting becomes extremely difficult.

For property investors, that creates a new rule worth remembering:

Do not buy a property for Airbnb income unless the investment still makes sense if Airbnb income disappears.

The building will probably remain.

The regulation may not.

Where Is Airbnb Banned in 2026? NYC, Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam & More