On 9 September the European Commission proposed the European Affordable Housing Act (COM(2026) 599), a Regulation setting when authorities may restrict short lets on housing grounds1. An area qualifies only where an average dwelling costs at least eight years of disposable income per head. A restriction also needs evidence that short lets harmed housing for three years beforehand, and it lapses after five years unless renewed.
Article 10(1)(e) carries the condition that matters most for Spain. The authority must already apply and enforce registration under EU Regulation 2024/1028, the short-term rental data rule that requires host registration numbers and platform data sharing. On the draft's own wording, a city without a working register cannot use the Act's cap at all. Spanish cities would have to qualify through regional registers, because the Tribunal Supremo struck down the national number in May. Article 14 exempts every measure adopted before the Act enters into force, so a city that legislates first escapes the income test and the sunset clause.
Mayor Jaume Collboni said on 9 September that the proposal backs his plan to let Barcelona's roughly 10,000 tourist-flat licences lapse in 20282. The text contains no annual night cap and no seasonal rule. EU Travel Tech, the European Holiday Home Association and the European arm of the Computer & Communications Industry Association said it lacked independent oversight and reliable data3.
Eurostat's release on 2 October sizes the market the Act would govern: 258.8m platform nights across the EU in April to June, up 5.3% against 17.6% a year earlier4. Nights fell in Austria, Cyprus and Hungary. The Cyprus figure fits the 10 to 15% fall in short-let occupancy and prices that the Self-Service Tourist Accommodation Association reported in July. Eurostat attributes none of the slowdown to regulation, and Italy and Greece still grew about 8%.
