Belfast Rent Prices Surge 57% Amid Airbnb Boom: Is Enough Being Done?

London, United Kingdom Jul 26, 2026 ALN: Belfast City Council has stepped up efforts to address the explosion of Airbnb and short-term let accommodation properties that have taken hundreds of dwellings out of the city’s residential property market.

Enforcement notices have been issued against 19 properties since the start of 2025, including 11 in the first half of this year.

It compared to just two enforcement notices issued against short-term lets in 2024 and none at all in 2023.

New Supplementary Planning Guidance is also in the works to give planning officials sharper tools to enforce housing policy around short lets.

But with data platform AirDNA listing almost 2,000 active short let properties in the greater Belfast area, questions are being raised if more can be done to protect the city’s housing stock amid soaring rent prices.

Analysis by PropertyPal suggests rent prices in Belfast have increased by 57% in the past five years, rising from an average of £749 per month in the first quarter of 2021 to £1,176 per month in the first quarter of 2026, a rise of £427 per month.

While there are a number of factors at play, including rising mortgage rates, property professionals have pointed to the lack of available housing stock as a driver for surging rent prices.

After numbers peaked in 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic did put a substantial dent in Belfast’s Airbnb market.

But the short let listings in the city have continued to increase over the past five years in tandem with the rising rent prices.

Short let operators are also benefiting from significantly higher average daily rates in 2026.

Belfast City Council’s current housing policy already recognises the risk of short-term holiday accommodation to the supply of housing stock in the city.

It states that use of an entire residential dwelling as short-term let will be treated as a change of use and therefore require planning permission.

In order to get planning permission, landlords must show that the property is accessible by public transport; is sited in an existing tourism cluster, or close to a visitor attraction; have short let management arrangements in place; and crucially, part of the property must be retained as permanent residential housing.

It’s understood that the latter requirement is being widely flouted across the city, prompting an increase in enforcement action.

That has in turn sparked a flurry of new retrospective planning applications this year, with landlords attempting to meet the policy requirements, including the promise to retain at least one room in the property for permanent residential use.

But Belfast City Council has admitted that it will be down to landlords and operators themselves to ensure compliance with the planning conditions.

The city council will only get involved when a complaint is made in respect of a suspected planning breach.

Of the 1,942 active short let properties listed in the Belfast area over the past week, AirDNA identified almost 80% (1,526) as ‘entire place’ listings.

Just one-in-five (416) listings involve bedroom or shared room listings.

Landlords using their properties as short let accommodation are also required to register for Tourism NI certification.

While upwards of 5,000 properties across the north have certification, it’s believed there are hundreds operating without it, with Belfast being a particular hotspot.

Despite the relatively low number of planning notices issued, it’s understood there are dozens of live investigations ongoing.

In the summer of 2024, Belfast City Council said of the 479 planning enforcement cases its officials were investigating, 148 related to short lets.

Where councils have taken enforcement action or refused planning permission, in some instances they have also faced the protracted and often costly process of fighting their case where landlords take their case to the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC).

Belfast City Council took the PAC to the High Court in 2024 after it overturned two decisions to refuse planning permission to convert city centre apartments into short let units.

Mr Justice Humphreys ruled in the council’s favour.

At the time, councillors criticised a ‘pass the parcel’ approach at Stormont, calling for new legislation to support enforcement by local authorities.

A spokesperson for Belfast City Council told The Irish News that it is now planning to introduce new Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) for short-term lets in response.

Although classified as non-statutory guidance, SPG is considered a highly influential material consideration when planning officers assess applications.

It takes the broad policies laid out in the Belfast Local Development Plan and provides specific, actionable metrics on how to comply with them.

The council said it is preparing to launch a consultation in preparation for the new short lets SPG.

“This consultation will run for 12 weeks and enable the public to further shape the draft document before it is finalised – being brought back to council for adoption,” said the spokesperson.

“More information on the consultation and the SPG will be published on our website soon.”

The proliferation of Airbnb and short let accommodation has become a major issue across Europe, prompting tighter controls in tourist hotspots.

New legislation is being planned in the Republic, which Housing Minister James Brown claims will be the strongest in Europe.

Similar to Northern Ireland, properties will be required to obtain planning permission and register with Fáilte Ireland.

But, speaking last month, he promised strong enforcement measures will be in place to ensure compliance.

THE NEXT PHASE OF SHORT LET GROWTH

Outside the divisive issue of residential properties being used for short let use, Belfast is also witnessing a new development trend in the city centre.

Partly the result of student accommodation owners seeking to find new revenue streams outside term time and the collapse in the demand for office space post-pandemic, planning permission has been granted for more than 2,000 short let units in recent times.

The vast majority of those units are located inside a number of large student accommodation blocks in and around the Ulster University campus, most of them already in operation.

But those units will be limited to the summer tourism market, i.e. July and August.

Outside the large student schemes, developers have been pursuing a number of new projects that could soon introduce dozens of new short let units in largely disused or underutilised space.

It includes 18 short-term let serviced apartments approved for the Callender House office building on Upper Arthur Street and 26 units passed for the office building on the corner of High Street and Lombard Street.

A scheme proposing 38 short-let apartments on the corner of Queen Street and Castle Street is also being considered.

Smaller schemes above city centre retail units are also in the works on High Street, Berry Street, Gresham Street and Winetavern Street.