EU Affordable Housing Act: What Changed in the Official Text
The EU Affordable Housing Act sets three tests cities must pass before restricting short-term rentals. Restrictions expire after five years. Here is the detail.
Source
- Title: EU Affordable Housing Act: Restrictions Would Expire After Five Years, Primary Residences Are Less Protected Than Reported
- Publication: [RSU by PriceLabs](/resources/people/rsu-by-pricelabs)
- URL: https://www.rentalscaleup.com/eu-affordable-housing-act/
What It Says
On September 9, 2026, the European Commission officially adopted the proposal for the EU Affordable Housing Act. Rather than implementing a blanket, Europe-wide cap on short-term rental (STR) nights, the Act establishes a standardized framework of conditions that local public authorities must satisfy before they can restrict STRs, second homes, or vacant properties on housing affordability grounds.
To restrict STRs under this Act, a local authority must pass three tests:
- Housing Stress: Prove the area is under housing stress based on specific price-to-income thresholds.
- STR Impact: Provide evidence that STR activity has caused a significant adverse effect on housing availability or affordability over the preceding three years.
- Proportionality: Demonstrate that no less-restrictive measure would achieve the same goal.
Additionally, authorities must already be enforcing the EU STR data regulation (Regulation (EU) 2024/1028) before introducing new housing-related restrictions.
Why It Matters
This regulation replaces local regulatory fragmentation with a unified European test. For STR operators and property managers, it establishes a predictable legal standard to challenge arbitrary local crackdowns. However, the official text reveals critical adjustments from previous leaked drafts: primary residences are not granted a blanket exemption from all local regulations, and the economic thresholds used to define "housing stress" are lower than initially anticipated, meaning more tourist destinations could easily qualify for restrictions.
Useful Signals
- Five-Year Sunset Clause: Under the official Article 12(1), any local restriction must be adopted for a maximum of five years. Extensions are permitted only if the authority conducts a formal review proving the housing stress conditions still exist.
- Mandatory Transitional Arrangements: The official text removes the qualifier "where necessary," making transitional arrangements mandatory for existing lawful STR operations affected by new rules.
- Narrower Primary Residence Protection: The exemption for primary residences only applies to restrictions justified solely on housing affordability. Cities can still cap primary residence rentals (e.g., Paris's 120-night cap) by citing other grounds like "urban environment" or "public policy" under the existing Services Directive.
- Lowered Housing Stress Thresholds: The income metric was changed from "median disposable income" to "net disposable income per capita." Because per capita income is lower than household income, the price-to-income thresholds of 8 and 10 will be met in far more markets. Furthermore, if the price-to-income ratio is 10 or above, the requirement to prove a 10-year upward trend is waived.
- Public Methodology (Mapadomo): The EU is utilizing Mapadomo, a housing database built by its Joint Research Centre, to track price and stock data down to the municipality level.
STR Tech Report Take
For STR technology vendors and property managers, the publication of the official text brings both a shield and a sword.
The "shield" is the five-year hard limit on restrictions and the mandatory transitional protections, which prevent sudden, permanent shutdowns of local markets. Tech platforms should prepare to help operators track these five-year review cycles and provide data to challenge renewals.
The "sword" for local regulators is the revised housing stress calculation. By shifting to per capita income and utilizing the Mapadomo database, the EU has made it much easier for municipal governments to legally justify STR restrictions in both urban and rural vacation markets. STR operators should proactively monitor their local Mapadomo data to anticipate upcoming regulatory shifts.
Original Source
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