The European Commission is preparing to give national and local authorities clearer legal grounds to restrict short-term holiday rentals and the purchase of second homes in areas where housing pressure is acute, according to a draft document seen by Euronews.
The proposed rules, expected to be unveiled in the coming weeks, would allow cities such as Lisbon, Barcelona, and Prague to target commercial operators running multiple properties as holiday lets, while protecting residents who occasionally rent out their own primary residence. The measure is part of a broader EU effort to ease a housing crisis that has pushed prices up 64.9% across the bloc between 2015 and 2025, with rents rising 21.8% over the same period, according to Eurostat data.
In many European cities, housing costs now consume more than 40% of household income, and nearly 10% of urban residents spend over 40% of their disposable income on housing, EU data from 2024 shows. Middle-class families increasingly find themselves unable to buy or rent on the open market, yet do not qualify for social housing.
Targeting commercial operators, not homeowners
The Commission's draft document stresses that any restrictions must be limited to areas where there is clear evidence of serious housing pressure. It specifically aims to curb the growth of professional short-term rental operators, who often run multiple properties, rather than individuals renting out their own homes occasionally.
"In order to limit the negative impact on the internal market of any measure restricting access to, or the provision of, short-term accommodation rental services or restricting acquisition and use of land and residential property, such measures should be limited to areas where the acute pressure on the availability and affordability of residential property justifies action," the document reads.
Short-term rentals account for only 1.2% of the EU's total housing stock, but in some tourism hotspots they can represent up to 20% of available homes. The Commission estimates that Europe needs more than 2 million new homes each year to address the structural shortage, yet construction consistently falls short, often by as much as 50%.
According to Housing Europe, the Brussels-based federation of public, cooperative, and social housing providers, France needs 518,000 new homes annually (including 198,000 social units), Germany 400,000 (140,000 social), the Netherlands nearly 1 million by 2031, and Sweden over 500,000 by 2033. Current supply fails to meet these targets.
Beyond short-term rentals: structural challenges
The Commission acknowledges that restricting short-term rentals and second homes alone cannot solve Europe's housing shortage. High construction costs, expensive land, planning restrictions, and lengthy permitting processes remain major obstacles. To address these, the Commission is working on a "Housing Simplification Package" due in 2027, aimed at cutting administrative barriers that slow down construction.
Housing has also become an investment asset, making it harder for younger people and middle-income households to buy. EU lawmaker Leïla Chaibi (The Left, France) told Housing Commissioner Dan Jørgensen on 2 September that financialisation and the widespread use of housing as an asset are among the main drivers of the lack of affordable housing in EU cities.
"It is time for the EU to act, and we know short-term rentals have an impact on the housing crisis, in our city centres, in our neighborhoods, as well as in the countryside everywhere in Europe now," Chaibi said.
The Commission is also considering encouraging national governments to intervene when house prices in a given area are at least eight times higher than local incomes, have risen over the previous decade, and are not expected to improve within three years.
Housing remains a national and local responsibility, so Brussels cannot order member states to build more homes. Instead, it is using EU funding, state-aid rules, investment, and legislation to influence the market. The upcoming rules on short-term rentals and second homes are part of this approach, alongside efforts to streamline construction and address the financialisation of housing.
The scale of the crisis is stark: an estimated 1.2 to 1.3 million people experience homelessness across the EU on any given night, according to the European Federation of National Associations on Homelessness (Feantsa). EU lawmaker Gaby Bischoff (S&D, Germany) warned that too many Europeans face evictions or are at risk of homelessness, attributing the crisis to growing socio-economic inequality and unsustainable housing systems that "prioritise profit over people."
