Will Airbnb ban in Budapest district spread? Here are the mayors’ replies

Terézváros, Budapest’s 6th district, banned Airbnb in a referendum held in the first two weeks of September. Alexandra Szentkirályi, the head of Orbán’s Fidesz in Budapest, said there should be a Budapest or even national-level solution concerning short-term rentals, and they should follow the example of the 6th district. Experts believe that banning or limiting short-term rentals would harm tourism. Will downtown Budapest mayors restrict or ban Airbnb following the example of the 6th district?

According to 24.hu, Momentum Mayor Tamás Soproni was surprised to hear that Szentkirályi suggests a similar solution in Budapest or even in Hungary, like in Terézváros. Only 20.5% of the citizens participated in the local referendum, and the triumph of the ban supporters was thin: only about 54% voted for limiting the number of short-term rental days in Terézváros in 0. Concerning the numbers, the difference between the Airbnb supporters and those rejecting it was only around 450. As a result, Terézváros will ban short-term rentals on 1 January 2026. We detailed the referendum in THIS article.

Budapest’s Terézváros: no short-term rentals from 2026. Photo: FB/Soproni

Will Airbnb ban spread in Budapest?

Mayor Soproni said he resides in short-term rentals abroad but voted for the ban in Terézváros. He believes it will help with the housing crisis, hitting typically the downtown districts of Budapest. Index.hu asked Mr Soproni about a favourable national solution. The mayor said he would have supported the Airbnb/owner scheme because short-term rentals increase rental and property prices.

Gergely Hanti, the editor of bnbinfo.hu, slammed Soproni for not setting a validity threshold and said a total ban in Budapest would harm Hungary’s developing tourism sector. That is because International Research shows tourists residing in short-term rentals spend more in the catering and retail units. Furthermore, most Airbnb tourists would not come to Budapest. Instead, they would choose Prague or Cracow.

Airbnbs are more sophisticated than long-term rentals. Illustration. Source: Pixabay

Following the Terézváros referendum, the main question is the other mayors’ thoughts and plans on the issue. Krisztina Baranyi, the mayor of Ferencváros (9th district), wrote that she did not find a total ban a good solution.

Thousands of Budapest short-term rentals will be out of the market in 2026

Péter Niedermüller, the mayor of the 7th district, hosting Budapest’s famous party districts with its popular ruin pubs, agreed with Baranyi that a general ban was not a favourable solution to the problem. Despite hosting the highest number of Airbnbs in Budapest, they are not considering a referendum. Niedermüller said they would like to keep the power of decision in the hands of the local governments instead of the Orbán cabinet, a solution Szentkirályi talked about. In Budapest’s 7th district, more than 4,400 short-term rentals operate currently. In the 6th district, that number is at 2,700.

András Pikó, the mayor of the 8th district, has not answered the question yet. Péter Szentgyörgyvölgyi, the Fidesz mayor of the 5th district, said they introduced the first regulation regarding the issue in 2020. Mr Szentgyörgyvölgyi said the locals’ feedback is entirely positive. The number of short-term rentals in the 5th district is 1,800.

Tourism Consulting Body meets, talks about new Airbnb regulation

The Tourism Consulting Body, a group of industry insiders recently established to advise the government on tourism policy, met on Wednesday, the National Economy Ministry said in a statement.

Organisations such as the Hungarian Hotel and Restaurant Association, the Balaton Development Council and the Hungarian Spa Association discussed economic trends and issues affecting the sector at the meeting. Among those issues was the result of a referendum showing support for a ban on homestays recently held in one of the capital’s central districts.

National Economy Minister Marton Nagy said the issue was a matter of housing, not tourism, and pointed to a shortage of close to 26,000 homes on Hungary’s residential property market. He said Airbnb-like homestays had reduced the number of long-term rentals and driven up rents as well as property prices. He added that families’ housing needs were the priority for the government and regulations would be drafted on that basis. He flagged regulations on short-term rentals that were “stricter than any till now”. The government is waiting for a proposal by Alexandra Szentkirályi, who heads the Budapest chapter of governing Fidesz, on the matter, he added.

Nagy noted that tourism accounted for over 10 pc of Hungary’s GDP and provided work for close to 400,000 people. The government aims to boost the performance of the sector further with developments at Liszt Ferenc International and support for catering establishments at destinations such as Lake Balaton that would extend the tourism season, he added.

Read also:

• How would an Airbnb ban affect Budapest’s rental market? – read the answer HERE
• Airbnb prices began to decrease in Budapest