Latest / STR Unpacked / Greece is freezing Airbnb permits on its most famous islands and the map keeps getting bigger.
Transcript
- Ben: Morning and welcome to your short term rental bulletin. Greece is freezing Airbnb pyramids on its most famous islands and the map keeps getting bigger. Under new special planning framework, the Greek government is moving to halt new short term rental registrations in Mykonos, Santorini and other oversaturated islands. The policy targets what officials are calling red zones. Areas where the density of holiday lets has overwhelmed local housing supply. The freeze isn't news to Greece. Athens city centre has been locked in new registration since January 2025. Then in March other cities around Greece became cities outside of the capital to follow. Now the islands are next. The scale of what is being proposed is significant. Authorities are considering cutting permitted tourist bed capacity in the islands by up to 30 % compared to earlier drafts. The ministerial decision is expected after Easter. And here's the key detail. In restricted zones, short-term rental registration numbers are no longer transferred within property. If a listed home is sold or inherited, the permit is deleted. The new owner cannot get one. For operators, this is a structural shift not just a cap on nights but it's a hard ceiling on the market itself and the pattern is Athens and the other cities now the islands Greece is running to escalate a playbook and with the new EU regulation kicking in on the 20th of May enforcement infrastructure is about to get a lot sharper across the whole continent thank you for watching and I'll see you tomorrow