European Commission Prepares Rules for Tougher Airbnb and Second-Home Restrictions Across EU

The European Commission is preparing a legal framework that would allow cities, regions and EU member states to intervene much more aggressively in the short-term rental market where tourist accommodation is pushing local residents out of conventional housing. Apartments rented through platforms such as Airbnb are at the centre of the debate, but Brussels is also examining a more sensitive issue — the possibility of restricting the purchase or use of second homes in areas facing particularly severe housing shortages. For Europe, this could mark a shift from isolated municipal bans toward much more systematic regulation of the housing market.

This is not an EU-wide ban on Airbnb or second-home ownership. The Commission intends to clarify under which circumstances local and national authorities may impose restrictions without violating single-market rules, the free movement of capital or property rights. This is especially important for tourist cities in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and other countries where local governments are already trying to reduce the number of tourist apartments but regularly face legal disputes over the limits of their powers. A new European framework could significantly shift that balance in favour of authorities in areas where housing affordability has become a critical problem.

A central principle of the future approach is expected to be the designation of areas under excessive housing pressure.

Bahraini Investor Buys Former WeWork Office Asset in Central London for £70 Million

A Bahraini investor has acquired 51 Eastcheap in the City of London for approximately £70 million, taking ownership of an office building that was previously held through an investment structure linked to WeWork. The transaction is significant not only because of its size, but because it adds to evidence that overseas capital is beginning to return to prime central London offices after several difficult years for the sector. The building remains fully occupied by WeWork and benefits from a strong location near Monument, Bank and Cannon Street, making it very different from weaker secondary office stock that has suffered from high vacancy, expensive financing and changing working patterns.

The deal also arrives at a moment when investors are becoming more selective rather than simply avoiding offices altogether. After the pandemic, many buyers questioned whether traditional office demand would recover, while rapidly rising interest rates then pushed commercial-property values lower and made debt significantly more expensive. That combination reduced transaction volumes across London. The market is now beginning to separate high-quality, well-located assets from older buildings that require costly refurbishment or struggle to attract tenants. 51 Eastcheap fits into the first category, which helps explain why international capital has returned despite continuing uncertainty around hybrid work and the future of the office market.

Ireland’s largest private landlord resumes buying as European rents face further pressure

Ireland’s largest private residential landlord, Ires Reit, is returning to active property acquisitions after a period in which the company had focused more heavily on asset sales and reshaping its portfolio. It is now in advanced discussions to acquire the Two Three North development in Clongriffin, north Dublin, for approximately €117.5 million. The deal involves 282 apartments and, if completed, would increase the company’s residential portfolio by almost 8%. The significance goes beyond the size of a single transaction. A major professional investor is effectively signalling that rental housing once again looks attractive enough to justify more than €100 million in new capital after several difficult years for European property markets.

The story matters well beyond Ireland. Ires buying 282 apartments will not by itself push rents higher in Berlin, Paris, Madrid or Amsterdam, but the transaction reflects a much wider pattern visible across Europe. New housing construction remains insufficient in many major cities, demand for rental accommodation continues to grow, vacancy rates are low, and institutional investors are once again becoming more willing to allocate capital to residential property. That combination points toward continued pressure on rents across many European markets. The important signal is not that one landlord is becoming larger, but that professional investors increasingly expect rental income to remain strong enough to justify large-scale acquisitions.

Tirana apartments are rising so fast that renting them is becoming less profitable

Tirana’s housing market has reached an unusual point where apartment prices continue to rise much faster than the income owners can realistically generate from renting them out. In the first half of 2026, a typical short-term rental property in the Albanian capital generated around €765 per month, or approximately €9,180 in annual gross revenue. At the same time, average residential property prices have reached roughly €2,100 per square metre. That means a relatively standard 80-square-metre apartment now costs about €168,000 before furniture, renovation and the additional spending required to prepare the property for tenants or tourists. At that level, the gross rental yield is only around 5.5%, already considerably less attractive than during the earlier phase of Tirana’s property boom.

Once real operating costs are deducted, the economics become even weaker. Owners must account for taxes, maintenance, repairs, replacement of furniture and appliances, utilities during vacant periods, platform commissions and the inevitable depreciation associated with frequent rental use. Net returns can therefore fall below 5%, stretching the payback period to at least 19 years and potentially considerably longer.

UK housing market stalls again as expensive mortgages hold buyers back

Britain’s housing market is showing renewed signs of slowing after a brief improvement earlier in the summer. According to preliminary HM Revenue & Customs data, 96,710 seasonally adjusted residential property transactions were recorded across the United Kingdom in July 2026. That was 2% lower than the revised June figure of 98,390 and 1% below the level recorded in July 2025. On the surface, the decline appears modest, but it is significant because it follows a period when the market seemed to be regaining momentum. The central problem remains the cost of borrowing, with mortgage rates now significantly higher than they were at the beginning of 2026.

At the same time, buyer demand has not disappeared. Instead, a growing share of it appears to be delayed rather than converted into actual purchases. Zoopla data indicate that property searches were around 7% higher year on year during the four weeks to 16 August, with increases recorded across all regions and nations of the UK for the first time since August 2025. Yet agreed sales remained around 6% below last year’s level. The average five-year fixed mortgage rate for a typical buyer with a 75% loan-to-value ratio has risen from below 4% in January to around 4.8% in August, leaving more people interested in buying but fewer prepared or financially able to complete a deal.

The widening gap between search activity and completed transactions has become one of the defining features of the British property market in the second half of 2026.

Central Europe’s office market shows fresh signs of recovery through leasing and repositioning

The office property market across Central and Eastern Europe is beginning to show clearer signs of recovery after several years in which investors treated the sector with considerable caution. During the first half of 2026, GTC signed leases covering nearly 69,400 square metres, compared with roughly 55,000 square metres during the same period of 2025. Around 40,700 square metres of the total involved office space. This does not yet represent a return to the office-market boom seen before the pandemic, but the increase in leasing activity suggests that high-quality buildings in major business centres are once again attracting tenants and retaining companies prepared to make longer-term commitments.

At the same time, investor attitudes toward existing buildings are changing. In Bucharest, capital is returning not only to new developments but also to older office properties that can be acquired, extensively renovated and repositioned for a different market. Global Vision announced the purchase of two office towers with a combined area exceeding 10,000 square metres in the Charles de Gaulle–Dorobanți district. Built between 2001 and 2004 and previously occupied by Alpha Bank, the buildings are now largely vacant and are scheduled for substantial refurbishment. The combination of improving leasing demand and renewed investment in repositioning older assets is becoming one of the most interesting signals emerging from the regional commercial property market.

Hotels become Portugal’s leading real estate investment target as foreign capital expands

Portugal’s commercial property market did more than simply grow during the first half of 2026. It also showed a clear shift in where investors are placing their money. Total commercial real estate investment reached about €1.4 billion, around 14% more than during the same period of 2025. The hospitality sector emerged as the strongest beneficiary, accounting for 36% of all investment volume. Hotels, aparthotels and other tourism-related assets are therefore becoming the main focus for both domestic and international capital. In a country where tourism already plays a strategic economic role, the direction is understandable, but the scale of the shift makes it especially important for the wider real estate market.

What matters most is that this does not appear to be a temporary surge created by a small number of isolated hotel transactions. Investors are increasingly treating Portuguese hospitality property as one of the clearest and potentially most attractive segments of the market. Several factors are converging at the same time: strong international visitor flows, continued interest from foreign investors, limited high-quality supply in key destinations and confidence that Portugal’s tourism economy still has room to expand. As a result, hospitality assets are taking a larger share of investment capital and are gradually moving ahead of several other commercial property categories in terms of strategic importance.

Italy’s housing market grows faster in more affordable cities beyond Milan and Rome

Italy’s residential property market began 2026 with another increase in activity, but the geography of that growth is becoming more revealing. During the first quarter, 179,654 home sales were completed across the country, 4.4% more than during the same period of 2025. Among Italy’s largest cities, some of the strongest increases were recorded not in the traditionally most expensive markets, but in Turin, Genoa and Bari. Turin saw transactions rise by 9.2%, Genoa by 8.7% and Bari by 8.4%. Milan also continued to grow, increasing by 7.1%, but the broader picture suggests that buyers are increasingly looking beyond the country’s most expensive metropolitan markets.

This does not mean that demand is disappearing from Milan or Rome. Rome remains the largest market among Italy’s major cities, while Milan continues to attract both domestic and international buyers. The difference is increasingly one of affordability. As mortgage lending becomes easier and more households return to the property market, buyers are paying closer attention to how much space and quality they receive for their money. In cities such as Turin, Genoa and Bari, the same budget can still purchase substantially more housing than in Milan, Rome or Florence. That affordability gap is beginning to influence the distribution of demand and may become one of the defining trends of Italy’s housing market during 2026.

Spain’s home sales are falling while property prices continue setting new records

Spain’s housing market has entered an unusual phase: the number of transactions is falling noticeably, yet this has still not translated into lower property prices. During the second quarter of 2026, 181,206 home sales were completed across the country, around 9% fewer than during the same period of 2025. April, May and June all recorded negative year-on-year sales figures, while prices moved in the opposite direction. In June, the average price of homes sold reached €2,114 per square metre, setting a new record in Spanish notarial statistics. The figure was 8.8% higher than a year earlier despite the decline in the number of buyers entering the market.

This divergence between transaction volumes and property values is becoming one of the most important signals coming from the Spanish housing sector. Normally, a sustained reduction in buyer activity gradually weakens price pressure because sellers must compete for a smaller pool of potential purchasers. In Spain, that mechanism has not yet become clearly visible. Housing supply remains limited, particularly in the most sought-after cities, coastal regions and other areas with persistent demand, while available properties still attract enough competition to keep prices elevated. The result is a market that is cooling in terms of activity but not in terms of value, with fewer transactions taking place at increasingly high prices.

The monthly figures from the second quarter show that this was not the result of one isolated weak period.

Britain launches its biggest social housing construction programme in decades

Britain is beginning one of the most significant returns of the state to the housing market in decades. The government has committed £39 billion to a new programme for social and affordable housing, with an initial funding wave of almost £10 billion expected to support the construction of more than 70,000 homes across England. Around 60% of those homes are intended to be provided under Social Rent, meaning rents set substantially below normal market levels. In a country where soaring rents, chronic shortages and long waiting lists for social housing have become persistent economic and political problems, this is no longer a limited support scheme but an attempt to change the structure of the housing market itself.

For European real estate, the story is particularly important because the state is once again becoming a major market participant rather than simply a regulator or provider of subsidies. For years, European governments largely relied on private developers, banks and institutional investors to increase housing supply, while attempting to influence construction through planning reforms, tax incentives and financial support. Britain is now moving toward a different approach. When the private market repeatedly fails to produce enough housing that ordinary households can afford, government begins deploying tens of billions of pounds directly into supply.