Challenges and effects of short-term rentals regulation A counterfactual assessment of European cities

Many overtouristified cities introduced limitations to the diffusion of short-term rentals, and are struggling to guarantee their enforcement, while evidence about the impact of those regu-lations is limited. The article provides an overview of the instruments adopted by 16 European cities, and an assessment of their effectiveness. By comparing regulated and unregulated cities, we show that the former obtained a persistent reduction in the number of listings of entire apartments, in the ratio between entire apartments and shared rooms, and in the number of professional hosts, but no significant impact on the spatial concentration of short-term rentals in the city. We also provide evidence of the effects of the diverse regulatory strategies, and of the importance of obtaining the cooperation of booking platforms.& COPY; 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY -NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

Many overtouristified cities have implemented restrictions on short-term rentals, but the enforcement of these regulations is challenging and there is limited evidence on their impact. This article provides an overview of the strategies adopted by 16 European cities and evaluates their effectiveness. The findings suggest that regulated cities have achieved a decrease in the number of entire apartment listings, the ratio between entire apartments and shared rooms, and the number of professional hosts, but there is no significant impact on the spatial concentration of short-term rentals. The study also highlights the importance of cooperation from booking platforms in implementing these regulations.