Requests to have apartments professionally managed as short-term rentals in Mexico City jumped 25% in January compared to the same month last year, according to data from two international property management platforms — a trend that community activists say could intensify the capital’s already strained housing market ahead of the FIFA World Cup this summer.
The figures come from Guesty and Smoobu, firms that offer AI-driven tools for property owners looking to list and manage units on platforms such as Airbnb. Both companies reported a significant uptick in inquiries from Mexico City landlords during January and February 2026, compared to the same period a year earlier.
The World Cup kicks off June 11 in Mexico City at Estadio Azteca — the only stadium in history to host three World Cup opening matches. Mexico City is one of three Mexican host cities, along with Guadalajara and Monterrey. Organizers expect around 5.5 million visitors across all host cities during the tournament, which runs through July 19.
Mexico City already had more than 30,000 short-term rental listings on Airbnb as of late 2025, concentrated mainly in the boroughs of Cuauhtémoc and Miguel Hidalgo. The advocacy group Inside Airbnb counted more than 26,000 active listings, with roughly 65% consisting of apartments or homes that had been pulled from the long-term housing market.
Sergio González Juaricua, a community activist in the Juárez neighborhood, said the new wave of property management requests signals more of the same. He warned that during the World Cup, temporary rental operators “will be able to charge whatever they want,” and predicted prices could double, triple, or even quadruple. He also raised concern that motels along the Calzada de Tlalpan corridor would shift to short-stay formats during the tournament, further blurring the line between residential and commercial use.
“What worries us is the normalization of commercial use in properties zoned for housing,” he said, referring to what activists call “pirate hotels” — apartments that function as lodging businesses without the permits or oversight that licensed hotels are required to have.
His concerns are not new. By late 2024, Mexico City had already passed a series of reforms to its Tourism Law establishing a 180-day-per-year limit on short-term rentals. The law also banned the use of government-built social housing for tourist rentals. Airbnb filed an injunction against the reforms, and the city had not yet implemented a required registry of rental hosts — the mechanism activists argue is key to enforcement. Neighborhood organizations filed their own legal actions at the end of 2025 demanding compliance.
The housing tension in Mexico City predates the World Cup by years. The city has been grappling with an unresolved debate over whether to regulate or deregulate short-term rentals, with a housing crisis that has already displaced thousands of families in the capital. According to the city’s General Urban Planning Program, more than 20,000 low-income households are forced out of the city annually due to the lack of affordable housing.
The post-pandemic surge in digital nomads accelerated the problem. In 2022, the city signed a deal with Airbnb aimed at attracting remote workers, and critics say it helped fuel rising rents. Data shows La Condesa saw a 17% rent increase from April 2023 to April 2025, while neighboring Miguel Hidalgo borough saw a 98% rise over the same period. The pressures are similar in other parts of Mexico. Housing costs in Mérida and other cities have also climbed as the Yucatán Peninsula attracted its own wave of international remote workers.
Airbnb, meanwhile, has been actively recruiting new hosts for the tournament. The platform is offering $750 to new “entire home” hosts in any of the 16 World Cup cities across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, with hosts needing to welcome their first guests by July 31, 2026. The company says searches for stays in World Cup cities are up 80% from a year ago. A Deloitte report commissioned by Airbnb projected that the average nightly rate in Mexico City during the tournament would reach $68 — the highest of any Mexican host city.
Hotel construction is underway but falls short of what officials estimate is needed. More than 3,300 new hotel rooms are being added to Mexico City’s existing inventory of approximately 61,500 rooms. Airbnb’s public affairs director, Jorge Balderrama, has argued that without short-term rentals, the city will lack the capacity to host all incoming visitors.
City officials have said they are reviewing whether current regulations strike the right balance, and have stated they want to avoid what Mayor Clara Brugada’s office has called “tourismophobia.” Whether the regulatory gap gets closed before summer remains an open question.
World Cup 2026: Mexico City fast facts
- The tournament runs June 11–July 19, 2026, across 16 cities in Mexico, the U.S., and Canada
- Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca will host the opening match — its third World Cup opener in history
- As of late 2025, Mexico City had more than 30,000 Airbnb listings, with concentrations in Cuauhtémoc and Miguel Hidalgo
- Mexico City passed a 180-day annual cap on short-term rentals in October 2024; Airbnb filed an injunction against it
- A required host registry mandated by the law had not been launched as of early 2026
- Neighborhood groups filed legal actions in late 2025 demanding enforcement of the rental cap
- Airbnb is offering $750 to new hosts in all 16 World Cup cities who complete their first booking before July 31, 2026
- Hotel room supply in Mexico City stands at approximately 61,500, with 3,300 more under construction for the Cup