New Porto Mayor Plans Airbnb Freeze to Stop Rent Spiral

Porto’s brand-new mayor has issued a striking warning: the city that dazzled the world with record visitor numbers is in danger of pricing out its own residents. Pedro Duarte’s first speech in office blended celebration and alarm, urging an economic reset that gives locals a future in the historic capital of the North. He promised tighter reins on speculative property deals, fresh limits on alojamento local and a pivot toward innovation-led industries.

A new tone in City Hall

The hand-over at Paços do Concelho on 5 November felt more like a policy crossroads than a ceremonial photo-op. Duarte, a social-democrat trained in economics, told councillors that “a city living off tourism and real estate alone becomes hostage to its own success.” Behind the oratory lies a political calculation: Porto’s electorate, wealthier on paper than a decade ago, is increasingly vocal about rental hikes, nightlife noise and congestion. By framing the debate around “diversifying the productive base,” the new mayor is signalling a break with Rui Moreira’s growth-at-all-costs narrative, even while acknowledging the jobs and rehabilitation that came with the boom.

The housing crunch behind the rhetoric

Property portals confirm what tenants feel in their wallets. Between 2020 and the first quarter of 2025, sale prices jumped from roughly €2 100 / m² to above €3 600 / m², a rise of more than 70%. Rents followed suit, climbing from €10,60 / m² in late 2020 to €17,60 / m² last November, far outpacing wage growth in the Norte region. Neighbourhoods once considered affordable—Bonfim, Paranhos, Campanhã—now post asking prices that regularly exceed €3 000 / m², while prestige areas such as Ribeira or Foz flirt with levels typical of Barcelona. Economists at the University of Porto trace at least half of that inflation to short-stay demand, with every thousand new tourist beds estimated to nudge local rents up by 1,2 percentage points.

From tourist success story to residents’ headache

Porto welcomed nearly 4 M overnight visitors in 2024, triple the figure recorded a decade earlier. The municipal tourist levy, raised to €3 per night in January, collected €9,3 M in just four months, underscoring the sector’s clout. Yet crowded alleyways, souvenir-only storefronts and late-night party boats on the Douro have fuelled a backlash similar to the sentiments heard in Florence or Amsterdam. Surveys by the Catholic University show that while locals still value tourism for jobs, 72% believe it contributes “strongly” to higher living costs, and 58% support caps on Airbnb licences.

Toolbox for restraint: what changes in 2025

Duarte’s majority has promised to revive and toughen the Municipal Regulation for Sustainable Growth of Local Accommodation. New licences will be frozen in the Sé, Miragaia, Vitória and Bonfim parishes, areas where the ratio of tourist flats already breaches the 15% pressure threshold adopted by council planners. Transfers of existing permits are to be curtailed, except in inheritance or divorce, and any property converted from long-term rental to holiday use must remain vacant for 24 months before reclassification. The city also pledges to facilitate co-operative housing projects, direct surplus tourist revenue toward social rent guarantees and accelerate planning approval for science-based firms in Asprela and Campanhã Innovation District.

Learning from neighbours across Europe

Porto is not alone on this tightrope. Barcelona intends to phase out 10 000 short-term lets by 2029, while Amsterdam restricts stays to a strict 30 nights per year in many districts. Florence has already banned new holiday rentals inside its UNESCO-listed core, preferring long-term leases. Duarte’s advisers cite those precedents as proof that firm local governance can reclaim housing without killing visitor appeal. They are also watching Copenhagen’s experiment with rewarding green tourist behaviour and Vienna’s century-old practice of mixing social and private housing on the same block, models that could inspire a Porto-specific blend of affordability and innovation.

What this means for people living in Portugal

If the policies stick, Porto could become a testing ground for balancing growth and liveability across the country. Lisbon’s 15-minute-city plan, Braga’s bid to lure remote workers and the Algarve’s seasonal housing pressures all point to a national conversation about how Portugal courts visitors without sacrificing residents’ rights. Investors may see slimmer margins on short-stays, yet a more stable long-term rental market could emerge, cooling wage inflation battles and helping domestic talent stay put. For families contemplating a move north or graduates weighing whether to remain after university, the next two years will reveal whether Porto can indeed evolve from Europe’s weekend darling into a diverse, knowledge-driven metropolis that remains affordable for its own people.