Demand for short-term housing rentals in the EU through online platforms continued to grow in early 2026. From January through March, guests spent 144.3 million nights in short-term accommodations booked through Airbnb, Booking, or Expedia. This is 9.7% more than in the first quarter of 2025 and 16.6% higher than in the first quarter of 2024, Eurostat reported on July 2.
Malta showed the fastest growth—up 30.5% year-over-year. It was followed by Slovenia—up 24.7%, Slovakia—up 23.5%, and Cyprus—up 22.3%. Double-digit growth was also recorded in Finland, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Croatia, Greece, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Among the EU’s largest tourism markets, all seven of the most-visited countries also showed growth. Germany saw a 14.9% increase, Italy 14.7%, Poland 11.9%, France 8.1%, Spain 6.5%, Portugal 4.9%, and Austria 4%. This means that the market is growing not only in small countries with a low baseline but also in major tourism economies.
Eurostat clarifies that these figures specifically refer to guest nights in short-term accommodations booked through platforms, rather than hotels and campgrounds. For example, if a family of four stays in an apartment for three nights, this counts as 12 guest nights. The data is published as experimental statistics and is based on information that the platforms report directly to Eurostat.
Regional statistics are published with a delay. According to data for the fourth quarter of 2025, the most popular regions for short-term rentals through these platforms were Andalusia in Spain—9.9 million nights, the Canary Islands—8.2 million, and Île-de-France in France—7.2 million. Only regions from three countries—Spain, France, and Italy—made it into the top ten.
For investors, these statistics mean that focusing solely on overall market growth is no longer sufficient. It is necessary to take into account the specific country, city, seasonality, local restrictions on Airbnb and Booking, taxes, registration rules, and competition from hotels. In Europe, short-term rentals continue to grow, but are becoming an increasingly regulated and professional business.
The short-term tourist rental market in Spain is experiencing its largest decline in recent years: the number of listings on digital platforms in May 2026 fell by 10.7% year-over-year, according to the Spanish National Institute of Statistics (INE).
According to INE data, 40,836 thousand tourist accommodations were removed from the market over the course of the year. This marked the second-sharpest decline in supply in the agency’s history of compiling such statistics.
Despite the year-over-year decline, by the start of the peak summer season, the market had partially recovered compared to November 2025: supply increased by 3.4%, or 11,237 thousand units. In May, Spain had 341,001 thousand active tourist accommodations, which collectively provided 1.71 million beds. On average, each property had about five beds.
The decline in supply affected all of the country’s major tourist regions. The most significant decline was recorded in the Valencian Community, where the market lost nearly 12 thousand properties over the year, and the total number of active listings fell to 51,268 thousand. As a result, the region ceded second place in terms of supply to Catalonia.
Andalusia, despite a decrease of 5,527 thousand properties, retained its status as Spain’s largest vacation rental market, with 90,649 thousand apartments and villas. Catalonia lost 5,546 thousand properties but remained among the leaders with 51,3 thousand active listings.
The island markets also saw a decline. In the Canary Islands, the number of properties fell by 2,33 thousand to 48,356 thousand, while in the Balearic Islands, it dropped by 3,057 thousand to 21,304 thousand listings.
At the provincial level, the largest markets remain the tourist coastlines. Málaga leads with 45,176 thousand properties, followed by Alicante with 32,148 thousand and Las Palmas with 26,998 thousand.
When looking at individual municipalities, the largest concentration of tourist accommodations is in Madrid—10,836 thousand properties. Next are the city of Málaga—8,288 thousand, Barcelona—8,231 thousand, Marbella—6,987 thousand, and Seville—6,937 thousand properties.
Analysts attribute the decline in supply to stricter municipal regulations, license revocations, and growing political pressure on the short-term rental sector. In Spain, the conflict between the tourism industry, property owners, and local residents—who are facing a shortage of affordable long-term rentals and rising prices in major cities and resort areas—has been intensifying for several years.
For the real estate market, this signals a shift in phase. Tourist rentals remain a profitable segment, but they are becoming more heavily regulated and riskier for investors. Whereas high occupancy rates and tourist traffic were once the key factors, licenses, municipal restrictions, the legal status of the property, and the location’s resilience to potential bans are now increasingly important.
For real estate buyers in Spain, this is an important signal: a property that was previously viewed as a short-term rental vehicle may lose some of its investment appeal if local regulations change. This is especially true in overheated tourist areas, where authorities are most actively restricting short-term rentals.
At the same time, a reduction in the supply of tourist apartments could support the hotel and aparthotel market, as well as partially return some housing to the long-term rental market. However, this is unlikely to quickly solve the problem of housing affordability: demand for housing in major cities and tourist regions remains high, while new supply is limited.
Starting May 20, 2026, the short-term rental market in Bulgaria will face stricter regulations: new EU-wide rules will require mandatory registration of properties and data sharing between platforms and the government, which could lead to the mass removal of illegal listings from Airbnb and Booking.com. The source of these changes is EU Regulation 2024/1028 on the collection and exchange of data regarding short-term rentals, which takes effect on May 20, 2026. Its goal is to increase transparency in the sector, simplify the identification of landlords, and provide national authorities with a tool to monitor compliance with local requirements.
According to Boris Pavlov, chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Tourism Real Estate and Innovation, about half of the current short-term rental listings in Bulgaria may disappear from platforms if owners do not register properly. This primarily concerns the shadow market segment, which has operated without full administrative and tax legalization.
Bulgarian law already requires that short-term rentals be registered as tourist accommodations rather than as ordinary private rentals. To do this, as industry guidelines indicate, municipal registration, submission of guest data via the ESTI system, and payment of tourist tax are typically required. New EU regulations are tightening controls specifically at the level of digital platforms, which will be required to work only with properly registered properties.
For the real estate and tourism markets, this has a dual effect. On the one hand, part of the supply may indeed leave the platforms in the coming months, which will support prices in the legal segment and strengthen the position of professional operators. On the other hand, stricter market filtering should increase the sector’s transparency, tax collection, and the predictability of rules for investors.
Against this backdrop, Bulgaria is entering a phase of a more formalized short-term rental market, where the key advantage will be not simply the availability of a property, but its full compliance with local and European regulations.
